The law professor who surrendered his Supreme Soviet seat to Yeltsin in a moment that captivated the nation
Years later Kazannik recalled his decision: "Five and a half million people voted for Yeltsin in Moscow, 1.7 million for me. I had not the slightest doubt that by any measure Yeltsin deserved the first seat in the Supreme Soviet."
Born into a large Ukrainian peasant family, Kazannik worked as a carpenter in Kazakhstan and served in the Soviet engineering corps before earning his law degree from Irkutsk State University; from 1975 he taught environmental and state law at Omsk State University. Elected a People's Deputy of the USSR in 1989, he became famous overnight on May 29 when, after Yeltsin failed to win a Supreme Soviet seat, Kazannik rose at the First Congress and surrendered his own seat to him. Appointed Prosecutor General of Russia by Yeltsin in October 1993, he resigned in February 1994 after refusing the president's demand to block the Duma's amnesty for the 1991 putschists and the October 1993 rebels, defending the constitution against the Kremlin. He later served as deputy governor of Omsk Oblast (1996–2003) and returned to teaching law until his death in 2019.
Career Timeline
- 1959Carpenter, Temirtau (Kazakh SSR)
- 1960–63Soviet Army, engineering corps
- 1963–75Irkutsk State University: law degree, graduate school, assistant, senior lecturer
- 1975–91Associate professor, Omsk State University (environmental and state law)
- 1989–91People's Deputy of the USSR; member, Interregional Deputies Group
- 1993–94Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation
- 1996–2003Deputy Governor of Omsk Oblast
- 2003–19Professor, Omsk State University; first vice-rector, Omsk Law Institute (2003–07)