Sergei Yushenkov
Russian politician (1950-2003)
Sergei Nikolayevich Yushenkov (Russian: Серге́й Никола́евич Юшенко́в; 27 June 1950 – 17 April 2003) was a Russian politician. He was assassinated on 17 April 2003, just hours after registering his political party to participate in the December 2003 parliamentary elections.
Political career
Yushenkov was an elected member of all Russian Parliaments from 1989 to 2003. During the Soviet coup attempt of 1991, he organized the "living chain" of civilians who came to protect their Parliament in Moscow, and he successfully negotiated with military personnel sent to storm the building.
As a person with a military background, Yushenkov was the strongest proponent of reform in the Russian Army, and he campaigned to abolish conscription, reduce the size of the Army, and protect all rights of military personnel who suffered from abuse and dedovshchina. Yushenkov was a prominent critic of the First and Second Chechen Wars, arguing that the Russian Army's operations in Chechnya were illegal.
His political party, Liberal Russia, was officially formed on 22 October 2002. The other initial organizers of the party before its registration were Vladimir Golovlyov, Viktor Pokhmelkin, and businessman Boris Berezovsky. Golovlyov was assassinated on 21 August 2002, and Berezovsky was expelled, possibly at the request of state authorities who refused to register the party, and possibly due to tensions with the other organizers.
Investigation of Russian apartment bombings
Yushenkov was vice chairman of the Sergei Kovalyov commission formed to investigate the Russian apartment bombings, and his views that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) had orchestrated the bombings to generate public support for the Chechen War were similar to those of journalist David Satter, a Johns Hopkins University and Hoover Institute scholar.
The public source identifies “Sergei Yushenkov” as russian politician (1950-2003). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Sergei, Yushenkov and Russian.
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