Sobchak, Anatoly (1937-2000)

Russian centrist politician, mayor of St Petersburg 1990-96, cofounder of the Democratic Reform Movement (with former foreign minister Shevardnadze), and member of the Soviet parliament 1989-91. He prominently resisted the abortive anti-Gorbachev coup of August 1991.

Sobchak was born in Siberia, studied law at the University of Leningrad, and became professor of economic law there in 1983. He was elected to parliament in the semi-free poll of March 1989, chaired the congressional commission into the massacre of Georgian nationalists, and became a leading figure in the radical Interregional Group of deputies.

He left the Communist Party in 1990 after only two years' membership and in May 1991 was elected mayor of Leningrad (renamed St Petersburg later the same year). When tanks advanced on the city during the coup attempt in August, Sobchak negotiated an agreement to ensure that they remained outside the city, and upheld the democratic cause. In May 1996 he was defeated in the mayoral elections by his former deputy Vladimir Yakovlev.