Ruslan Khasbulatov was Russia’s first parliament chairman and then President Boris Yeltsin’s close ally, who later turned his bitter foe
Ruslan Khasbulatov, Russia’s first parliament chairman © Sputnik / Maksim Blinov
Ruslan Khasbulatov, one of the most powerful men in the early days of modern Russia, has died in the Moscow region at the age of 80, the Russian media reported, citing his relatives.
The politician and economist led the first Russian parliament and supported Boris Yeltsin, who was yet to become Russia’s first president, in his standoff against the junta coup plotters, who sought to grab power in the USSR in 1991. Yet, just two years after Khasbulatov and Yeltsin stood side by side against the failed coup attempt, they turned against each other, sparking the 1993 constitutional crisis.
Born in a village near the Chechen capital of Grozny in 1942, Khasbulatov graduated from the prestigious Moscow State University first as a lawyer and later as an economist, becoming a doctor of economics by 1980. In 1990, he was elected to the parliament of Soviet Russia and became its chairman a year later.
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In the 1990s, Khasbulatov also started working with Yeltsin. Together with Yeltsin, he opposed a coup attempt by a group of Soviet hardliners in 1991. Khasbulatov authored an address “To the citizens of Russia,” where he condemned the coup plotters and called their actions “a reactionary anti-constitutional coup,” as well as urged the people to launch a general strike.
Khasbulatov quickly became disappointed with the Yeltsin government’s economic policies and reforms. In 1993, a standoff between Yeltsin and Khasbulatov, who was leading the first Russian parliament at the time, reached its highest point. The lawmakers led by Khasbulatov refused to approve a prime minister candidate suggested by Yeltsin, prompting the president to dissolve the parliament altogether.
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Khasbulatov, in turn, accused Yeltsin of abusing his power. The parliament then tried to oust Yeltsin, citing a constitutional court’s ruling. The standoff ended with a storm over the White House in Moscow, where the lawmakers were holding a session at the time. Khasbulatov was arrested but was pardoned by a new parliament and released a year later.
Since 1994, Khasbulatov had worked at the Russian Plekhanov University of Economics, where he had headed the international economics desk. He remained highly critical of Yeltsin through all these years and blamed him for what he perceived as Russia’s shortcomings. In 2021, he claimed that Yeltsin was surrounded by “hundreds” of CIA agents who told him how to run Russia.
