Rutskoi, Aleksandr Vladimirovich

Rutskoi or Rutskoy, Aleksandr Vladimirovich

(ŭl'yĭksän`dər vlŭd'yĭmĭr`əvyĭch' ro͞otskoi`), 1947–, Russian politician, b. Ukraine. A Russian nationalist and former air force officer who fought in Afghanistan, he was Boris YeltsinYeltsin, Boris Nikolayevich
, 1931–2007, Soviet and Russian politician, president of Russia (1991–99). Born in Yekaterinburg (then Sverdlovsk) and educated at the Urals Polytechnic Institute, Yeltsin began his career as a construction worker (1953–68).
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's vice presidential running mate in 1991. As vice president, Rutskoi supported Yeltsin during the coup attempt against GorbachevGorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich
, 1931–, Soviet political leader. Born in the agricultural region of Stavropol, Gorbachev studied law at Moscow State Univ., where in 1953 he married a philosophy student, Raisa Maksimovna Titorenko (1932?–99).
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, but later he opposed Yeltsin's reforms and became his rival. After Yeltsin suspended the parliament in 1993, its deputies named Rutskoi acting president. Rutskoi joined with opposition conservatives and called for an armed uprising to oust Yeltsin, but the attempt was crushed by the army and he was jailed in 1993. Released in 1994 when a new parliament granted him amnesty, Rutskoi renewed his denunciations of Yeltsin and advocated Russian expansion to the boundaries of the former Soviet Union and a reunification of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. In 1995 the Derzhava (Strong State) party, a loose coalition of ex-Communists and other hard-liners, nominated Rustkoi as its presidential candidate in the 1996 election, but he withdrew in favor of Gennady ZyuganovZyuganov, Gennady or Gennadi Andreyevich
, 1944–, Russian politician, b. Mymrino. The son and grandson of country schoolteachers, he grew up in the tiny farming village where he was born, joined the Communist
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. He served as governor of Kursk region from 1996 to 2000.