Being the President's bodyguard, Korzhakov (second from left) stands with Boris Yeltsin (on the left) on a tank to defy the August coup on August 18, 1991.

Alexander Vasilyevich Korzhakov (Russian: Александр Васильевич Коржаков) (born January 31, 1950 in Moscow), was a KGB general who served as Boris Yeltsin's bodyguard, confidant, and adviser for 11 years. He was the head of the Presidential Security Service (PSB) in 1993-1996, State Duma deputy, and retired Lieutenant-general. Korzhakov had been Yeltsin's bodyguard since 1985, and on August 18, 1991, he stood next to his boss on top of a tank during Yeltsin's historic speech. Image File history File links Boris Yeltsin (far left) stands on a tank to defy the 1991 coup. ... Image File history File links Boris Yeltsin (far left) stands on a tank to defy the 1991 coup. ... Yeltsin redirects here. ... January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 1,081 km² Population  - City (2007)    - Density 10,469,000   9684. ... The KGB emblem and motto: The sword and the shield KGB (transliteration of КГБ) is the Russian-language abbreviation for Committee for State Security, (Russian: ; Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti). ... Yeltsin redirects here. ... A bodyguard is a person or group of people who professionally protect someone (known as their principal) from personal assault, kidnapping, assassination, loss of confidential information, or other threats. ... Presidential Security Service or PSS is a title which exists in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Korea. ... For other uses, see State Duma (disambiguation). ...

Being the Chief of the Security Service, Korzhakov was widely criticized for interfering in Government business. In 1996, he was finally sacked after losing a power struggle with the Prime Minister. He then successfully ran for a seat in the State Duma where he received immunity from prosecution. In 1997, Korzhakov published a biography based on his experience at the very top of Russian politics. In the biography he contends that he and the Security Service "governed the country for three years". For other uses, see State Duma (disambiguation). ...

Early life

Alexander Korzhakov was born in Moscow to a worker family. After graduating at secondary school, he worked as an assembly worker. In 1969–1970 he served as a private in the Kremlin Regiment. In 1970–1989 he served in the KGB 9th Chief Directorate, "Protection of Higher Party and Government Officials". As a KGB official, he became a member of the Communist Party in 1971, being a member of the Party bureau of subdivisions and member of the committee of the Komsomol for the 9th administration. Ensign of the Kremlin Regiment. ... The KGB emblem and motto: The sword and the shield KGB (transliteration of КГБ) is the Russian-language abbreviation for Committee for State Security, (Russian: ; Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti). ... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за = КПСС) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the Russian... Komsomol (Комсомол) is a syllabic abbreviation word, from the Russian Kommunisticheski Soyuz Molodiozhi (Коммунистический союз молодёжи), or Communist...

In 1978 he was transferred into a KGB subdivision, which dealt with personal protection. In 1980 he graduated "by Correspondence" from a Moscow Law Institute (Russian: Всесоюзный юридический заочный институт Moskovskiy Yuridichesky Institut, Zaochny fakultet). Following service in Afghanistan in 1981–1982, he was one of president Yuri Andropov's personal bodyguards in 1983–1984. In 1985 he became one of three personal bodyguards of Boris Yeltsin, who at the time was the leader of the Communist Party organization in Moscow. When, in 1987, Yeltsin was removed from his party position, Korzhakov kept the friendship and in 1989 was retired from KGB for his support of Yeltsin - officially, Korzhakov was discharged from the KGB due to "health and age reasons". After his retirement he became a private body guard of Yeltsin, albeit officially worked as the Chief of Security of a co-operative named "Plastic". Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (Russian: Ю́рий Влади́мирович Андро́пов; 15 June [O.S. 2 June] 1914 – February 9, 1984) was a Soviet politician and General Secretary of the CPSU from November 12, 1982 until his death just sixteen months later. ... Yeltsin redirects here. ... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за = КПСС) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the Russian... Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 1,081 km² Population  - City (2007)    - Density 10,469,000   9684. ... A cooperative (also co-operative or co-op) comprises a legal entity owned and democratically controlled by its members, with no passive shareholders. ...

After the incident on September 28, 1989, when Boris Yeltsin fell from a bridge, Korzhakov set up a unit of former KGB agents to protect Yeltsin. Following the election of Yeltsin in June 1991 as President of the RSFSR, Korzhakov became the Chief of Yeltsin's Security Service, which was later transformed into the Presidential Security Service when the Soviet Union was dissolved. He was responsible for the protection of Yeltsin during the August coup attempt in 1991 and on October 4, 1993, when the White House of Russia was stormed. State motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Workers of the world, unite!) Official language None (Russian in practice) Capital Moscow Chairman of the Supreme... During the Soviet Coup of 1991, also known as the August Putsch, Vodka Putsch or August Coup, a group of hardliners within the Soviet Communist party briefly deposed Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and attempted to take control of the country. ... White house of Russia under siege The White House of Russia, also known as the Russian White House, is a government building in Moscow that housed the Soviet Unions Congress of Peoples Deputies and Supreme Soviet until the crisis of 3 October 1993 when an uprising lead to...

Head of the Security Service

The storming of the White House of Russia. During the October crisis in 1993, Korzhakov was responsible for the personal protection of Boris Yeltsin. Korzhakov asserts that Yeltsin had planned to use chemical gases in order to "smoke" the deputies from the Parliament building, but in the end Yeltsin was satisfied with using tank fire to get the deputies out.

Being the head of the Presidential Security Service, Korzhakov was frequently accused of interfering in governmental affairs, as the Service gathered evidence on high government officials engaged in corruption, bribe-taking, and squandering money. He was regarded as one of the hard-liners opposed to market reform, a strong backer of the war in Chechnya, and an opponent to holding the presidential election in 1996. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... White house of Russia under siege The White House of Russia, also known as the Russian White House, is a government building in Moscow that housed the Soviet Unions Congress of Peoples Deputies and Supreme Soviet until the crisis of 3 October 1993 when an uprising lead to... Boris Yeltsin was President of the Russian Federation at the time of the crisis. ... Yeltsin redirects here. ... Chechen Republic (IPA: ; Russian: , Chechenskaya Respublika; Chechen: , Noxçiyn Respublika), or, informally, Chechnya (; Russian: ; Chechen: , Noxçiyçö), sometimes referred to as Ichkeria, Chechnia, Chechenia or Nokhchiyn, is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). ...

In December 1994, Korzhakov organized an armed raid on the Moscow headquarters of Most Bank headed by Vladimir Gusinsky, an ally with Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov, who was a potential rival to Yeltsin in the 1996 presidential elections. Soon after the raid, Luzhkov denied he had any desire to run for president - and Gusinsky quickly moved with his family to London. Vladimir Gusinsky Vladimir Aleksandrovich Gusinsky (Владимир Александрович Гусинский in Russian) (born 1952), a Russian media baron, is known as the founder of Media-Most holding that included Most Bank, the NTV channel, the newspaper Segodnya and magazines. ... Yuriy Mikhailovich Luzhkov. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

Running up to the 1996 Presidential election, there were serious doubts that President Boris Yeltsin would allow elections to take place. On May 5, 1996, Korzhakov explicitly called for postponing the elections. However, the elections took place as planned and Yeltsin finished first in the June 16, 1996, initial round of the Presidential elections with about 35% of the vote, scheduled to compete with Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov in the runoff on July 3, 1996. Zyuganov on a November 7 rally Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov or Guennady Ziuganov (Russian: ) (born 26 June 1944) is a Russian politician, and head of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (since 1993), a member of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (since 1996). ...

During Korzhakov's reign, it is believed that the Presidential Security Service acquired documents which implicated first deputy prime minister Anatoly Chubais in illegal financial transactions during the privatization period that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. On June 19, 1996 Sergey Lisovsky (a wealthy advertising and showbusiness magnate) and Arkady Yevstafyev (a close aide to former first deputy prime minister Anatoly Chubais) were arrested while leaving the White House of Russia, allegedly carrying a case containing 500 thousand dollars. After being questioned for 11 hours by Presidential Security Service, Lisovsky and Yevstafyev were released. Tipped off by Chubais, television networks started to broadcast updates on the unfolding scandal through the night, portraying the arrests as a coup attempt by Korzhakov. The next day, June 20, 1996, Korzhakov was abruptly dismissed by Yeltsin at the urging of Chubais. Anatoly Chubais. ... White house of Russia under siege The White House of Russia, also known as the Russian White House, is a government building in Moscow that housed the Soviet Unions Congress of Peoples Deputies and Supreme Soviet until the crisis of 3 October 1993 when an uprising lead to...

According to one view, the firings of Korzhakov were the result of a battle between factions within the President's inner circle - between a group that wanted to take power by force and a group that wanted to win the election "legitimately." Others saw the events in the context of an ongoing struggle between three groups: the former heads of the power ministries, representatives of the energy complex, and representatives from financial circles.

The biography

In his biography, Boris Yeltsin : From Dawn to Dusk (1997), Korzhakov describes how the Russian Political elite views democracy - an overwhelmingly negative evaluation of Russian politics. Naturally, the book has been severely critizised, however, only few people have accused the author of inventing or distorting the major facts. Even Korzhakov's most furious critics have not come forward to accuse the author of publishing libelous falsehoods. Therefore, future historians might very well consider Korzhakov's book an outstanding source of information about the Boris Yeltsin era.

The 1993 storming of the Parliament

An important contribution of the biography is its description of the anti-democratic mentality inside the Kremlin. Korzhakov explains the severely negative outlook of Yeltsin, and the ruling elite as a whole, towards the democratic institutions. Korzhakov recounts certain developments in March, 1993, when the Russian parliament was only inches away from impeaching the president. Aware of this danger, Yeltsin ordered Korzhakov to prepare the arrest of all deputies in the case of impeachment. Referring to documents never published before, Korzhakov asserts that Yeltsin had even planned to use chemical gases in order to "smoke" the deputies from the building. Fortunately for the deputies, impeachment did not occur - and Yeltsin was satisfied with using tank fire to get the deputies out of the Parliament building. Moscow Kremlin in the 19th century. ...

The 1996 Presidential Election

As regards to the presidential election in 1996, as well as in 1993, Yeltsin had - according to Korzhakov - no intention of leaving the Kremlin and was prepared to take any actions to insure his continued stay. Yeltsin felt free to express his contempt toward democratic principles in Korzhakov's presence. Some episodes the author relates are almost resonant of the Nixon years and the published Watergate tapes. According to Korzhakov, in the summer of 1996, Yeltsin and his premier minister, Victor Chernomyrdin debated the very serious possibility of canceling the presidential election. Korzhakov adds several significant details which possibly confirm the view that the Kremlin violated many democratic rules during the presidential election campaign in 1996. He also fully explains, with much elaboration, the story about how Anatoly Chubais' people tried to illegally take 500 thousand dollars from the Kremlin. The Watergate tapes are an enormous collection of audio tape recordings, made on orders of U.S. President Richard Nixon, of discussions in the Oval Office with various members of his staff or visitors. ... Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (Russian: Ви́ктор Степа́нович Черномы́рдин) (born April 9, 1938) is a Russian politician. ...

The Yeltsin family

Democratic institutions such as the Parliament and the courts played an extremely limited role in the life of the Kremlin and had no influence over the decision making process. Instead, Yeltsin's family emerges, according to Korzhakov, as a leading political institution in Russia. Korzhakov concludes, "when it came to making decisions, Yeltsin was motivated not by the interest of the state, but by his own family clan".

The people around Yeltsin

Korzhakov contends that the Kremlin was run by various unconventional leaders such as body guards like Korzhakov, himself. In the book, Korzhakov confessed that he and the FSB chief Mikhail Barsukov, another member of Yeltsin's guard, "governed the country for three years". Emblem of FSB The FSB (ФСБ) is a state security organization in Russia, and is the domestic successor organization to the KGB. Its name is an acronym from the Russian Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (Федера́льная слу́жба безопа́сности Росси́йской Федера́ции) (Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti Rossiyskoi Federatsii). ...

Korzhakov paints an interesting portrait of the people around Yeltsin, few of whom are depicted as being more elevated in moral virtue and intellect than the author. Korzhakov describes the atmosphere surrounding Yeltsin as thick with unbridled favoritism, a fertile ground for intrigues among those struggling for the president's ear.

Even the idea of murder hangs over the Kremlin. The requests and promises of people in the Kremlin to murder their political rivals are interspersed throughout the book. For example, Boris Berezovsky, the financial mogul, asked Korzhakov to murder Vladimir Gusinsky, another financial tycoon. Meanwhile, Korzhakov, himself, had vowed to kill Berezovsky. At the same time, General Alexander Lebed threatened to shoot Korzhakov who only reversed the same threat upon Lebed. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Vladimir Gusinsky Vladimir Aleksandrovich Gusinsky (Владимир Александрович Гусинский in Russian) (born 1952), a Russian media baron, is known as the founder of Media-Most holding that included Most Bank, the NTV channel, the newspaper Segodnya and magazines. ... Aleksandr Ivanovich Lebed (Алексáндр Ивáнович Лéбедь) ( April 20, 1950– April 28, 2002) was a Russian general and politician. ...

Korzhakov also contends that during his State Duma election campaign in the aftermath of his ousting from the Kremlin in June 1996, his political adversaries wanted to kill his main rival in the parliamentary election in Tula in order to render the election invalid.

Legacy

Following the replacement of Korzhakov, the Presidential Security Service was reorganized under Anatoly Kuznetsov, a professional without any political ambitions or interests, effectively depriving the Service its unique political influence. Anatoly Vasilievich Kuznetsov (1929, Kiev–1979, London) was a Soviet writer who described his experiences in German-occupied Kiev during the WWII in his internationally acclaimed novel Baby Yar. ...

In January 1997, Korzhakov won, as an independent candidate, a by-election over 10 other candidates with 26.86 percent of the vote in Tula, south of Moscow, filling a vacancy left by Alexander Lebed. In the State Duma he quickly became a member of the defence committee. The same year, he worked as a consultant of the artistic motion picture Schizophrenia by director Victor Sergey. Korzhakov is today a member of the Putin-loyal United Russia. A by-election or bye-election is a special election held to fill a political office when the incumbent has died or resigned. ... Tula (Russian: ) is an industrial city in the European part of Russia, located 165 km to the south of Moscow, on the river Upa, at . ... Aleksandr Ivanovich Lebed (Алексáндр Ивáнович Лéбедь) ( April 20, 1950– April 28, 2002) was a Russian general and politician. ... Vladimir Putin with United Russia emblem in the background United Russia (Yedinaya Rossiya, Russian Единая Россия; the more correct translation is Unified Russia) is a political party in Russia which usually labels itself centrist. ...

References

• Aleksander Zhilin, Corruption Keeps Generals In Line, in The Jamestown Foundation Prism, 22 September, 1995
• Susan J. Cavan Russian Federation : Executive Bransch, in The ISCIP Analyst, Volume II, No. 15, August 20, 1997.
• Laura Belin and Robert W. Orttung, Electing a Fragile Political Stability, in the OMRI Transition Vol 3, No 2, 7 February 1997
• Agentura.ru: Biography of Alexander Korzhakov (Russian)

External links

• Alexander Korzhakov: President Yeltsin did not tell me where we were going - Interview in Pravda by Ilya Tarasov November 11, 2001
• Vladimir Shlapentokh, Alexander Korzhakov, Boris Yeltsin: Ot Rasveta Do Zakata, Interbuk, 1997 A Review
• Official Biography (Russian)

Further reading

• Alexander Korzhakov, Boris Yeltsin : Ot Rasveta Do Zakata (English: Boris Yeltsin : From Dusk to Dawn), Interbuk, 1997 ISBN 5-88589-039-0