1942–2023
○ Arrested 1993, amnestied 1994
The Supreme Soviet chairman who stood with Yeltsin against the coup, then fell to Yeltsin's tanks
During the October 1993 siege of the White House, when Yeltsin offered safety guarantees, Khasbulatov replied: 'I need no guarantees, I can offer guarantees to Yeltsin myself.'
Ruslan Khasbulatov was a Chechen-born Soviet economist and Russian politician who became the last chairman of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet. On the day of the August 1991 coup, he was Yeltsin's closest ally: he personally drafted the appeal 'To the Citizens of Russia' and helped organize the defense of the White House. After the Soviet collapse, however, he turned the parliament into the center of opposition to Yeltsin's economic reforms and concentration of power, leading to the 1993 constitutional crisis in which he and Vice-President Rutskoy commanded the parliamentary resistance until tanks shelled the building and they were arrested. Amnestied in 1994, he left politics and returned to academia, teaching world economics at his alma mater.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1965Graduated from the Faculty of Law, Moscow State University
- 1970–1990Professor and head of the Department of International Economic Relations, Moscow Institute of National Economy (Plekhanov)
- 1990.03Elected RSFSR People's Deputy from the Grozny constituency
- 1990.06–1991.10First Deputy Chairman of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet
- 1991.07–1991.10Acting Chairman of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet
- 1991.10–1993.10Chairman of the RSFSR/Russian Federation Supreme Soviet
- 1994–2023Head of the Department of World Economics, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics
Related historical events
The 1993 constitutional crisis and Chechen politics
Khasbulatov had cooperated with Boris Yeltsin in the final years of the Soviet Union, but later became his rival as chairman of the Russian parliament. After Yeltsin decided to dissolve parliament in 1993, Khasbulatov allied himself with Yeltsin's vice president, Aleksandr Rutskoi. Troops loyal to Yeltsin shelled and stormed the parliament building in Moscow, known as the White House; Khasbulatov and Rutskoi were arrested, jailed, and later pardoned. Khasbulatov subsequently argued that the crisis destroyed parliamentary democracy in Russia and led to the adoption of a strong presidency.
Khasbulatov also became involved in Chechen politics after the 1991 coup attempt. In September 1991, he visited Grozny as Yeltsin's envoy to press for the resignation of Doku Zavgayev, then head of the Checheno-Ingush regional party committee, but was outmaneuvered by Dzhokhar Dudayev. Khasbulatov later claimed that Dudayev could have been removed in the fall of 1994 without an armed conflict and recounted his role in a memoir. This is his own claim; it should be distinguished from broader assessments of the Chechen political situation and his political responsibility and influence in the war.