Alexander Rutskoy

{{Short description|Russian politician and former Soviet military officer (born 1947)}}

{{Family name hatnote|Vladimirovich|Rutskoy|lang=Eastern Slavic}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Alexander Rutskoy

| native_name = {{nobold|Александр Руцкой}}

| native_name_lang = ru

| image = Alexander Rutskoy MoscowRia 08-2016 (cropped).jpg

| caption = Rutskoy in 2016

| office = Acting President of Russia
(disputed)

| term_start = 22 September 1993

| term_end = 4 October 1993

| predecessor = Boris Yeltsin

| successor = Boris Yeltsin

| office1 = Vice President of Russia

| term_start1 = 10 July 1991

| term_end1 = 4 October 1993

| president1 = Boris Yeltsin

| predecessor1 = Office created

| successor1 = Office abolished

| office2 = Governor of Kursk Oblast

| term_start2 = 23 October 1996

| term_end2 = 18 November 2000

| president2 = Boris Yeltsin
Vladimir Putin

| predecessor2 = Vasily Shuteyev

| successor2 = Alexander Mikhailov

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1947|9|16|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Proskuriv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union ({{small|now}} Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine)

| citizenship = Soviet (1947–1991)
Russian (1991–present)

| spouse = Nellie Zolotukhin (div.)
Lyudmila Novikova (div.)
Irina Popova

| children = Dmitry
Alexander
Rostislav
Catherine

| party = Independent

| otherparty = Patriots of Russia {{small|(2016)}}
Derzhava {{small|(1995–1998)}}
DPCR/NPSR {{small|(1991–1994)}}
CP RSFSR {{small|(1990–1991)}}
CPSU {{small|(1970–1991)}}

| signature = Signature of Alexander Rutskoy.jpg

| footnotes =

| nickname =

| allegiance = {{flag|Soviet Union}}
{{flag|Russia|1991}}

| branch = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Soviet Air Force.svg}} Soviet Air Force
{{flagicon image|Flag of the Russian Air Force.svg}} Russian Air Force

| serviceyears = 1971–1993

| rank = Major general{{efn|Rutskoy was expelled from army after Yeltsin's victory in the 1993 Russian coup d'état.}}

| awards = Hero of the Soviet Union (1988)

| module = {{listen |pos= center |embed= yes |filename= Aleksandr Rutskoj voice.oga |title= Alexander Rutskoy's voice |type= speech |description= recorded September 2013}}

}}

Alexander Vladimirovich Rutskoy ({{langx|ru|Александр Владимирович Руцкой}}; born 16 September 1947) is a Russian politician and former Soviet military officer who served as the only vice president of Russia{{refn|group=note|The office of Vice President of Russia was abolished after the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis (in which Rutskoy played a major role as an antagonist to then-President Boris Yeltsin), and the newly-created post of Prime Minister of Russia became the second-highest ranking office in Russia. Thus, no other person but Rutskoy has ever served under the formal title of Vice President of the Russian Federation.}} from 1991 to 1993. He was proclaimed acting president following Boris Yeltsin's impeachment during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, in which he played a key role.{{cite news |last=Rosenberg |first=Steven |title=Remembering Russia's civil siege |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |date=3 October 2003 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3161002.stm |access-date=2008-04-10}}{{cite news |last=Bendersky |first=Yevgeny |title=CIVIL SOCIETY. WHEN THE IMPOSITION OF WESTERN DEMOCRACY CAUSES A BACKLASH |work=EurasiaNet and PINR |date=23 February 2005 |url=http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/civilsociety/articles/eav022305.shtml |access-date=10 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813033408/http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/civilsociety/articles/eav022305.shtml |archive-date=13 August 2008 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}

Born in Proskuriv, Ukraine (modern Khmelnytskyi), Rutskoy served with great distinction as an air force officer during the Soviet–Afghan War, for which he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. In the 1991 Russian presidential election, he was chosen by Boris Yeltsin to be his vice-presidential running mate, but later became increasingly critical of Yeltsin's economic and foreign policies. In late September 1993, Yeltsin ordered the unconstitutional dissolution of the Russian parliament. In response, the parliament immediately annulled his decree, impeached him and proclaimed Rutskoy acting president. After a two-week standoff and popular unrest, Yeltsin ordered the military to storm the parliament building, arrested Rutskoy and formally dismissed him as vice president. He was imprisoned until early 1994, being released after the State Duma granted him amnesty.

In 1996, Rutskoy was elected governor of Kursk Oblast, a post he held until 2000. He was barred from seeking a second term by a regional court over alleged abuse of power.

Early life and career

Alexander Rutskoy was born in Proskuriv, Ukrainian SSR, USSR (today Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine). Rutskoy graduated from High Air Force School in Barnaul (1971) and Gagarin Air Force Academy in Moscow (1980). He had reached the rank of Soviet Air Force colonel when he was sent to Afghanistan.

File:Evstafiev-alexander-rutskoy-w.jpg

In Afghanistan, Rutskoy served as the commander of an independent air attack regiment of 40th Army. During the war, his aircraft was shot down twice, but on both occasions he managed to eject safely. On the third occasion, his Su-25 aircraft entered Pakistani airspace over Miranshah, and was shot down by a PAF F-16 Falcon flown by Squadron Leader Athar Bukhari from the No. 14 Squadron, forcing Rutskoy to eject. Rutskoy ejected safely, but was captured by local people and was briefly held as a POW in Islamabad, Pakistan.{{cite book |author= |date=June 2007|title= PAF Over the Years |url=https://www.abebooks.com/PAF-Over-Years-Hussaini-M-Directorate/30089221503/bd|publisher= Directorate of Media Affairs, Pakistan Air Force |page=107 |edition=Revised|chapter=F-16 vs. Su-25}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/su-25.php|title = Sukhoi Su-25 - attack}} The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency intervened to save him to avoid interfering with the Geneva Accords and the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.{{Cite book|last=Coll|first=Steve|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52814066|title=Ghost wars : the secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet invasion to September 10, 2001|date=2004|publisher=Penguin Press|isbn=1-59420-007-6|location=New York|oclc=52814066}} For his bravery and having flown 428 combat missions, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1988.{{cite news|last=Staar|first=Richard F.|title=The Next Coup Attempt in Russia|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1992/11/12/the-next-coup-attempt-in-russia/|access-date=12 April 2013|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=12 November 1992}} He was chosen by Boris Yeltsin to be his vice-presidential running mate in the 1991 Russian presidential election.

Vice presidency

On 18 May 1991, he was selected as a vice presidential candidate together with presidential candidate Boris Yeltsin for the 1991 election. Rutskoy's candidacy was chosen by Yeltsin on the very last for candidates to submit their applications.{{Cite web|url=https://tass.ru/spec/eltzin25|title=Смел, напорист, гоним|website=ТАСС}}

Rutskoy was Vice President President of RSFSR/Russia from 10 July 1991 before arrest 4 October 1993. As vice president, he openly called for the independence of Transnistria and Crimea from Moldova and Ukraine.Michael Kraus, Ronald D. Liebowitz (1996), Russia and Eastern Europe After Communism, p. 305. Westview Press, {{ISBN|0-8133-8948-8}}

=Conflict with Ukraine over Crimea=

In October 1991 Rutskoy went to Kyiv in order to negotiate the price of Russian natural gas exports to Ukraine, and through Ukrainian territory to Europe. On that visit he also claimed Russian control and ownership of the Black Sea fleet, based in Sevastopol, and, indirectly, Russian sovereignty over the whole Crimean Peninsula. Rutskoy publicly warned Ukraine against conflict with Russia, which both had nuclear weapons and had the ability to claim sovereignty over Crimea.{{cite news |last1=Kozyrev |first1=Andrei |title=Boris Yeltsin, the Soviet Union, the CIS, and Me |url=https://www.wilsonquarterly.com/quarterly/_/boris-yeltsin-the-soviet-union-the-cis-and-me |publisher=THE WILSON QUARTERLY / Wilson Center |date=Fall 2016}}

In April 1992 and March 1993 two similar resolutions that claimed Crimea were passed by the Russian Federation parliament. The Ukrainians naturally turned for help to the United States, which sought to aggregate Soviet nuclear weapons in the hands of Moscow and to occupy ex-Soviet scientists with the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction programme. The Budapest Memorandum provided security assurances to the three ex-Soviet countries Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan in exchange to their accession to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. By the end of 1996 all nuclear weapons were removed to Russian territory.

=Russian constitutional crisis of 1993=

Following the initial period of peaceful collaboration with Yeltsin, from the end of 1992, Rutskoy began openly declaring his opposition to the President's economic and foreign policies and accusing some Russian government officials of corruption. For instance, an account stated that he refused to shake the hands of Sergei Filatov, head of the Executive Office of the President, calling him a scum.{{Cite book|title=Presidential Power in Russia|last=Huskey|first=Eugene|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|isbn=9781315482194|location=London}} Rutskoy claimed that Filatov reduced the number of vice presidential staff in response the day after the incident.{{Cite book|title=The Constitution of the Russian Federation: A Contextual Analysis|last=Henderson|first=Jane|publisher=Hart Publishing|year=2011|isbn=9781841137841|location=Oxford|pages=77}} Rutskoy was accused of corruption by the officials of Yeltsin's government. On 1 September 1993, President Boris Yeltsin suspended Rutskoy's execution of his vice-presidential duties, due to alleged corruption charges,{{Cite web|url=http://old.russ.ru/antolog/predely/2-3/ya93-s93.htm|title=Антологии. Пределы власти. #2-3. Хроника Второй Российской республики (январь 1993 - сентябрь 1993 гг.)|website=old.russ.ru}} which was not further confirmed.{{Cite web |url=https://yeltsin.ru/day-by-day/1993/12/04/39005/ |title=Как считает московская прокуратура, трастовый договор вице-президента Руцкого с фирмой «Трейд Линкс Лтд» - фальшивка |access-date=5 October 2020 |archive-date=12 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201012052614/https://yeltsin.ru/day-by-day/1993/12/04/39005/ |url-status=dead }} On 3 September, the Supreme Soviet rejected Yeltsin's suspension of Rutskoy and referred the question to the Constitutional Court.

On 21 September 1993, President Yeltsin dissolved the Supreme Soviet of Russia, which was in direct contradiction with the articles of Soviet Constitution of 1978, especially Article 121–6, which stated: "The powers of the President of Russian Federation cannot be used to change national and state organization of Russian Federation, to dissolve or to interfere with the functioning of any elected organs of state power. In this case, his powers cease immediately." On the night of 21–22 September 1993, Rutskoy ascended the podium of the Russian parliament,{{Cite web|url=http://old.russ.ru/antolog/1993/chron21.htm|title=Октябрь 1993. Хроника переворота. 22 сентября. Второй день противостояния.|website=old.russ.ru}} and assumed the powers of acting President of Russia at 00:25, in accordance with the above article.[http://pravo.gov.ru/proxy/ips/?docbody=&link_id=4&nd=102026216&intelsearch= Указ и. о. Президента Российской Федерации от 22 сентября 1993 г. № 1] He took the presidential oath, and said: "I am taking the authority of President. The anti-constitutional decree of President Yeltsin is annulled." Rutskoy's interim presidency, although constitutional, was never acknowledged outside Russia. After the two-week standoff, and the violence erupting on the streets of Moscow, on 4 October 1993, the Russian White House was taken by Yeltsin's military forces. Rutskoy and his supporters were arrested and charged with organization of mass disturbances. The day before, Yeltsin officially dismissed Rutskoy as vice president, despite not having legal powers to do so, and fired him from the military forces.{{Cite web|url=http://kremlin.ru/acts/bank/4533|title=Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 03.10.1993 г. № 1576|website=Президент России}} Rutskoy was imprisoned in the Moscow Lefortovo prison{{Cite web|url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/61197|title=Хроника событий|date=5 October 1993|website=www.kommersant.ru}} until 26 February 1994,{{Cite web|url=http://www.praviteli.org/records/rf/rf1/rutskoy.php|title=Биография: Руцкой Александр Владимирович - Praviteli.org|website=www.praviteli.org}} when he and other participants of both the August 1991 and October 1993 crises were granted amnesty by the State Duma.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/72057|title=!Госдума объявляет амнистию|date=24 February 1994|website=www.kommersant.ru}}

Soon after his release, Rutskoy founded a populist, nationalist party, Derzhava (Russian: Держава), which failed in the 1995 legislative election to the State Duma, gathering only about 2.5% of the votes and thus not passing the 5% threshold.

Governorship

File:Kursk 8 May 2000-5.jpg

Rutskoy decided not to run for the presidency in the 1996 election, but did run for the position of the governor of Kursk Oblast in the fall of the same year. Being a joint candidate from the communist and "patriotic forces", he was initially banned from the election, but allowed to run by the Russian Supreme Court only a few days before the election, which he won in a landslide, with about 76% of the vote. It is noted that Rutskoy had the potential to become an opposition leader upon re-entering politics but he adopted a pragmatic and compliant approach in his dealings with the government in Moscow in general and Yeltsin in particular.{{Cite book|title=Russian Military Reform, 1992-2002|last1=Aldis|first1=Anne|last2=McDermott|first2=Roger|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=9781135754693|location=London|pages=28}} He has apologized for starting the armed rebellion, explaining that he would not have done it if he knew it would lead to several deaths.{{Cite book|title=Walking on Ice: An American Businessman in Russia|last=Andresen|first=Frederick|publisher=Outskirts Press, Inc.|year=2007|isbn=9781432713522|location=Denver|pages=112}}

In October 2000, Rutskoy ran for a second term as governor. However, a few hours before the vote on 22 October he was suspended from participation in the elections by the decision of the Kursk Oblast Court for the abuse of official position, inaccurate data on personal property, violations of election campaigning, etc.

Rutskoi submitted to the Supreme Court of Russia a protest against the decision of the Kursk Oblast Court to cancel the registration which was considered by the Civil Board of the Supreme Court and rejected on 2 November 2000.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsru.com/russia/21oct2000/rutskoy.html|title=Суд Курска снял кандидатуру Руцкого с выборов губернатора|date=21 October 2000|website=NEWSru.com}}

In December 2001, Rutskoy was sued by the Prosecutor's Office of Kursk Oblast, which filed a lawsuit. The lawsuit was related to the illegal privatization of a four-room apartment (made in July 2000). Later Rutskoi was brought under article 286 of the criminal code (abuse of power) as an accused. The case was closed for lack of evidence, as no evidence was presented in the case.{{Cite web|url=https://warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=1995|title=Руцкой Александр Владимирович|website=warheroes.ru}}

Further political activities

In the 2003 Russian legislative election, he ran for the State Duma in one of the constituencies of Kursk Oblast. He was not allowed to vote. His registration as a candidate was cancelled by the Supreme Court due to the provision of incorrect information about the place of work in the Central Election Commission.

In the 2014 Russian elections, he again tried to run for Governor of Kursk Oblast, but was not registered due to problems with his nomination process.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2547731|title=Александру Руцкому снова отказали|date=18 August 2014|website=www.kommersant.ru}}

In the 2016 Russian legislative election, he again ran for the State Duma as part of the federal list of the party Patriots of Russia and the single-member constituency in Kursk Oblast. The party list did not pass the 5% threshold, and Rutskoy himself lost the election, taking second place in his constituency.[https://ria.ru/20160609/1445216097.html Руцкой заявил, что выдвинется на выборах в Госдуму от "Патриотов России"]