People of the Revolution and the USSR

Activity(set)
Any Political and party leadership 14 Government and administration 8 Legislature and state representation 5 Military command 32 Security, intelligence and policing 19 Diplomacy and international organization 4 Economy, finance and planning 6 Industry and production 5 Agriculture and land policy 2 Ideology and propaganda 3 Social movements and organizing 17 Scholarship and theory 6 Science and technology 10 Literature and arts 6 Religion 2 Law and justice 2
Affiliation

Most people

Any Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks 1 Soviet Unionstate 1

All 2 affiliations

Soviet Union

Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks 1 Soviet Unionstate 1
Position
Any Socialist-bloc reform leader 1 Marxism and communism 1
Citizenship
Any Soviet Union 2
Background(set)
Any Russia 31 Germany 4 Poland 3 Estonia 2 Hungary 2 Latvia 2 Ukraine 2 Benin 1 Democratic People's Republic of Korea 1 Finland 1 Greece 1 Italy 1 Korea 1 Lithuania 1 Moldova 1 United States 1
Era
Any

People of the Soviet Union

People of the thaw and the stagnation1953–1985 1 The last generation1985–1991 1
Law and justice Background: Ukraine Clear all

Roman Andreyevich Rudenko

Роман Андреевич Руденко
Soviet Union Soviet communism Soviet Union Ukraine 1907–1981 ○ Natural causes

Chief Soviet prosecutor at Nuremberg, the longest-serving head of the Soviet procuracy

On 8 February 1946 in Nuremberg, Rudenko opened the Soviet prosecution case by condemning the Nazi leadership for instilling in the German people 'the morals of cannibals and the greed of burglars.'

Born to a Ukrainian Cossack family, he joined the Party in 1926 and became Procurator of the Ukrainian SSR in 1944. At the Nuremberg Trials he served as the USSR's chief prosecutor, cross-examining Göring and laying bare the machinery of Nazi war crimes. Appointed Procurator General in 1953, he held the post for 28 years: leading the Beria prosecution, chairing the commission that rehabilitated victims of Stalinist repression under Khrushchev, and later collaborating with Andropov on 'prophylactic' measures against dissidents. He embodied the duality of the Soviet procuracy: an instrument of terror under Stalin and an architect of its post-Stalin legal consolidation.

Career timeline
  • 1929Senior investigator, Chernigov district procuracy
  • 1937–1938Procurator of Donetsk Oblast
  • 1938–1940Procurator of Stalino Oblast
  • 1942–1944Deputy Procurator, Ukrainian SSR
  • 1944–1953Procurator of the Ukrainian SSR
  • 1945–1946Chief Soviet prosecutor, Nuremberg IMT
  • 1953–1981Procurator General of the USSR
  • 1961–1981Member, CPSU Central Committee

Alexei Ivanovich Kazannik

Алексей Иванович Казанник
Socialist-bloc reform leader Soviet Union Ukraine 1941–2019 ○ Illness

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)
  • 1960–1963Soviet Army, engineering corps
  • 1963–1975Irkutsk State University: law degree, graduate school, assistant, senior lecturer
  • 1975–1991Associate professor, Omsk State University (environmental and state law)
  • 1989–1991People's Deputy of the USSR; member, Interregional Deputies Group
  • 1993–1994Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation
  • 1996–2003Deputy Governor of Omsk Oblast
  • 2003–2019Professor, Omsk State University; first vice-rector, Omsk Law Institute (2003–07)