Rutskoi, Alexander Vladimirovich (1947– )

Russian politician and former military officer, founder of the reformist Communists for Democracy group, and vice president of the Russian Federation 1991–93. During the abortive August 1991 coup he led the Russian delegation to rescue Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev from his forced confinement in the Crimea. In September 1993, with Ruslan Khasbulatov, he led an insurrection against Russian president Boris Yeltsin and sought to become acting president. Both men were arrested and imprisoned but then released in 1994 on the instructions of the federal assembly. Shortly after his release, Rutskoi, as leader of the Russian Social Democratic People's Party, professed his support for a reconstituted Soviet Union. In August 1996 Rutskoi became a leading member of the communist-led Patriotic Popular Union of Russia. He was elected and served as governor of Kursk in southwestern Russia 1996–2000.

Born in Kursk, Russia, he became an air officer in the Soviet army, reaching the rank of colonel. He was a highly decorated veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s and was awarded Hero of the Soviet Union in 1988 for his bravery. A populist soldier, he was chosen by Yeltsin as running-mate in the 1991 Russian presidential elections. But he became increasingly critical of the Yeltsin administration, especially its price liberalization reforms.