Leonid Gozman
{{Short description|Russian politician}}
{{Expand Russian|topic=bio|Гозман, Леонид Яковлевич|date=February 2015}}
{{infobox officeholder
| name = Leonid Gozman
| native_name = {{nobold|Леонид Гозман}}
| native_name_lang = Russian
| image = Leonid Gozman asv2023-01.jpg
| caption = Gozman in 2023
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1950|07|13}}
| birth_place = Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
| citizenship = Russia, Israel
| nationality = Russian
| party = Union of Right Forces
| otherparty = Democratic Choice of Russia
PCA
Just Cause
| occupation =
}}
Leonid Yakovlevich Gozman ({{langx|ru|Леонид Яковлевич Гозман}}; born 13 July 1950) is an Israeli-Russian politician who served as the president of the Union of Right Forces.{{cite web|url=http://www.sps.ru/?id=205837|location=Russia|title=Gozman, Leonid Yakovlevich|publisher=sps.ru|accessdate=28 February 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327183027/http://www.sps.ru/?id=205837|archivedate=27 March 2012}}
Early life
Leonid Gozman was born on 13 July 1950 into a Jewish family in Leningrad. In 1976, he graduated from the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University and started teaching there the same year. Gozman obtained his PhD degree in 1983 and later became the chair of the Political Psychology Laboratory.
Political career in Russia
In 1992, Gozman became acquainted with Yegor Gaidar, the First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia,{{Cite web |date=1999-12-14 |title=Зам по мозгам |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/16290 |access-date=2023-11-07 |website=www.kommersant.ru |language=ru}} and became his advisor. In 1993, he joined the Choice of Russia,{{Cite web |title=Леонид Гозман: «Великих реформаторов никогда не благодарят сразу» |url=https://yeltsin.ru/news/leonid-gozman-velikih-reformatorov-nikogda-ne-blagodaryat-srazu/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |website=Ельцин Центр |language=ru}} an electoral bloc of Boris Yeltsin supporters led by Gaidar. When this bloc became a political party in 1994, Gozman joined its political council. In the State Duma election of December 1995, he received 5.32% of the vote; his party, the Democratic Choice of Russia, won 3.86% of the vote, failing to reach the 5% electoral threshold for proportional representation, but won 9 of the 450 Duma seats.
In 1996, Gozman became an adviser to Anatoly Chubais, presidential chief of staff and later First Deputy Prime Minister. In 1998, Chubais was elected chairman of the board of RAO UES, the state-owned energy monopoly, and the next year Gozman joined him as a member of the board.
In August 1999, Gozman became a deputy chief of staff of the Union of Right Forces, a coalition of liberal political parties formed for that year's legislative election. In 2000, he endorsed Vladimir Putin's bid for presidency, saying that "supporting any other candidate would be worse".{{Cite news |last =Соколов |first=Михаил |date=2000-03-23 |title=Выборы-2000 |language=ru |work=Радио Свобода |url=https://www.svoboda.org/a/24197406.html |access-date=2023-11-07}}
After the Union failed to pass the 5% electoral threshold in the 2003 election, most of its leadership resigned.{{Cite web |date =2004-02-12 |title= Правые разошлись по демократическим проектам |url =https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/449118 |access-date =2023-11-07 |website =www.kommersant.ru |language =ru}} Chubais, still interested in keeping the party alive, became its informal leader. In 2005, he suggested Gozman as the next party chairman but, due to the opposition of Boris Nemtsov, 29-year-old Nikita Belykh was appointed instead and the deputy chairman post was created for Gozman.{{Cite web |date =2005-04-23 |title =Правые пустили молодую кровь |url =https://www.gazeta.ru/2005/04/23/oa_155662.shtml |access-date =2023-11-07 |website =Газета.Ru |language =ru}}{{Cite web |date =2005-04-25 |title =Пермяком в лидеры |url =https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/573054 |access-date =2023-11-07 |website =www.kommersant.ru |language =ru}}
The Union of Right Forces received 0.97% of the votes in the 2007 election. The party leadership resigned in the aftermath, but the same evening Belykh and Gozman were reappointed to their positions.{{Cite web |title =Никита Белых остался во главе СПС |url =https://lenta.ru/news/2007/12/17/sps1/ |access-date =2023-11-07 |website =Lenta.RU |language=ru}}
RAO UES was dissolved in July 2008. On 22 September Chubais was appointed head of the newly established state company Rusnano. The next month Gozman was appointed his advisor.{{Cite web |title =Лидер СПС стал советником Анатолия Чубайса |url =https://lenta.ru/news/2008/10/27/gozman/ |access-date =2023-11-07 |website =Lenta.RU |language =ru}}
On 26 September 2008, Belykh resigned as party chairman and Gozman became its acting leader. It was announced that the Union of Right Forces would soon be merged into a new liberal party established by the Kremlin. Gozman said he had to accept this "disgusting option" to save the organisation.{{Cite web |date=2008-09-29 |title=Союз исправленных сил |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1033077 |access-date=2023-11-07 |website=www.kommersant.ru |language=ru}} According to him, Chubais was "not a rich man" and could no longer finance the party, but the "new format" might help to solve its financial problems.{{Cite web |date=2008-10-02 |title=«Чубайс не может больше финансировать партию» |url=https://www.gazeta.ru/politics/2008/10/02_a_2846762.shtml |access-date=2023-11-07 |website=Газета.Ru |language=ru}} On 15 November, the Union of Right Forces was dissolved,{{Cite web |last=Новости |first=Р. И. А. |date=15 November 2008 |title="Союз правых сил" принял решение о самоликвидации |url=https://ria.ru/20081115/155200816.html |access-date=2023-11-07 |website=РИА Новости |language=ru}} along with the Democratic Party of Russia and Civilian Power.{{Cite news |date=2008-11-15 |title=Демпартия России и "Гражданская сила" объявили о самороспуске |language=ru |work=Радио Свобода |url=https://www.svoboda.org/a/473215.html |access-date=2023-11-07}} The next day, the Right Cause party was founded, with Gozman appointed co-chair.{{Cite web |date=2008-11-17 |title=Бизнесмены занялись "Правым делом" |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1068728 |access-date=2023-11-07 |website=www.kommersant.ru |language=ru}}
According to journalist Mikhail Zygar, in 2010 the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev tasked Vladislav Surkov to create a liberal counterpart to the ruling United Russia. It was suggested to put a liberal government official in charge of Right Cause until it was strong enough to be joined by Medvedev.{{Cite book |last=Zygarʹ |first=Michail Viktorovič |title=All the Kremlin's men: inside the court of Vladimir Putin |last2=Zygarʹ |first2=Mikhail |date=2016 |publisher=PublicAffairs |isbn=978-1-61039-739-1 |location=New York}} Gozman supported the accession of the president's allies to the party leadership, since it would facilitate its aspirations to govern.{{Cite web |date=2011-03-16 |title=Кто возглавит "Правое дело" |url=https://www.interfax.ru/russia/181574 |access-date=2023-11-07 |website=Interfax.ru |language=ru}} Medvedev's candidates discussed the idea with Vladimir Putin but failed to get his approval and rejected the offer. In May 2011, billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov agreed to become the leader of Right Cause.{{Cite web |date=2011-05-17 |title="Правое дело" темное |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1641925 |access-date=2023-11-07 |website=www.kommersant.ru |language=ru}} In June, the co-chairs of the party stepped down and Prokhorov was appointed in their place.{{Cite web |date=2011-06-25 |title=Миллиардер Прохоров возглавил "Правое дело" |url=https://www.bbc.com/russian/russia/2011/06/110625_pravoye_congress_prokhorov |access-date=2023-11-07 |website=BBC News Русская служба |language=ru}} Gozman celebrated this as a "victory of our team".{{Cite news |date=25 June 2011 |title=Прохоров возглавил "Правое дело" |work=Interfax |url=https://www.interfax.ru/russia/196356}} In September, after Prokhorov's refusal to remove Yevgeny Roizman from the party list, the billionaire was ousted from Right Cause by Surkov. Gozman called the events shameful for the reputation of the president and his staff and left the party.{{Cite web |date =2011-09-20 |title ="Правое дело" опять поделится |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1777093 |access-date =2023-11-07 |website=www.kommersant.ru |language=ru}}
Post-politics dissident activities
In September 2014, he signed a statement to "Stop the aggressive adventure: To withdraw from the territory of Ukraine, Russian troops and stop the propaganda, financial and military support to the separatists in the South-East of Ukraine."{{cite web|title=Резолюция Марша Мира 21 сентября|url=http://echo.msk.ru/blog/echomsk/1400978-echo/}} He again signed an anti-war petition in January 2022 during the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On 25 July 2022, he was detained by Russian police in Moscow over his alleged "failure to inform the authorities swiftly enough about his citizenship of Israel".{{cite news | url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-police-detain-opposition-politician-gozman-moscow-2022-07-25/ | title=Russian police detain opposition politician Gozman in Moscow | newspaper=Reuters | date=25 July 2022 }}
In August 2022, he was arrested for 15 days based on a Facebook post he made in 2022, which stated that: "Hitler was an absolute evil, but Stalin was even worse. The SS were criminals, but the NKVD were even more terrible, because the Chekists murdered their own. Hitler unleashed a war against humanity; the communists declared total war against their own people."{{cite news |title=Russian politician Leonid Gozman arrested for calling Stalin ‘worse than Hitler’ |url=https://meduza.io/en/news/2022/08/30/russian-politician-leonid-gozman-arrested-for-calling-stalin-worse-than-hitler |access-date=20 February 2024 |work=Meduza |date=30 August 2022 |language=en}} He left the country after his sentence was served.{{cite news |title=Russian Opposition Politician Leaves Country After Serving 30 Days In Jail |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-opposition-politician-leaves-country-jail/32057580.html |access-date=20 February 2024 |work=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty |date=29 September 2022 |language=en}}
In February 2024, Gozman was arrested in absentia along with Konstantin Sonin by a Moscow court.{{cite news |title=Moscow court issues arrest warrants for Leonid Gozman and Konstantin Sonin |url=https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/02/20/moscow-court-issues-arrest-warrants-for-leonid-gozman-and-konstantin-sonin-en-news |access-date=20 February 2024 |work=Novaya Gazeta Europe |date=20 February 2024}}
Bibliography
- {{Cite Q | Q111318821 }}
- {{Cite Q | Q111318883 }}
- {{Cite Q | Q111318808 }}
References
{{Reflist|refs=
{{cite news | last1 = Ponomaryov | first1 =Lev |author1-link = Lev Ponomaryov | last2= Borshchev | first2=Valery |last3=Gannushkina |first3=Svetlana | author3-link = Svetlana Gannushkina |display-authors=etal | language = ru | title= Заявление сторонников мира против Партии Войны в российском руководстве |trans-title = Declaration by peace activists against the Russian leadership's Party of War | newspaper= Echo of Moscow |date = 2022-01-30 | url = https://echo.msk.ru/blog/echomsk/2972500-echo | access-date = 2022-02-01 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220130040820/https://echo.msk.ru/blog/echomsk/2972500-echo |archive-date= 2022-01-30 |url-status=live }}
}}
{{Commons category|Leonid Gozman}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gozman, Leonid}}
Category:Politicians from Saint Petersburg
Category:Jewish Russian politicians
Category:Union of Right Forces politicians
Category:Moscow State University alumni
Category:People listed in Russia as media foreign agents
Category:Russian activists against the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Category:People listed in Russia as foreign agents
Category:Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent
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