Galina Starovoitova
Encyclopedia
Galina Vasilyevna Starovoitova ' onMouseout='HidePop("57098")' href="/topics/Chelyabinsk">Chelyabinsk
- November 20, 1998 St Petersburg) was a Russia
n politician and ethnographer
known for her work to protect ethnic minorities and promote democratic reforms in Russia.
city of Chelyabinsk
to a Belarusian
father and a Russian mother, Starovoitova earned an undergraduate degree from the Leningrad College of Military Engineering in 1966 and an MA in social psychology
from Leningrad University in 1971. In 1980 she earned a doctorate in social anthropology
from the Institute of Ethnography, USSR Academy of Sciences, where she worked for seventeen years. Her PhD thesis, published in 1987, was a study of the Tatars
of Leningrad. She also published extensively on anthropological theory, cross-cultural studies, and Caucasian
anthropology—with fieldwork notably in the areas of Nagorno-Karabakh
and Abkhazia
. In early 1988, after the birth of the Armenian national-democratic movement, she became a supporter of the self-determination of the Nagorno-Karabakh
region. In December 1988 she accompanied Academician Andrei Sakharov
on a fateful trip to Armenia
, Azerbaijan
and the Karabakh region in an attempt at mediation and reconciliation. From 1994 to 1998, she was a visiting professor at the Watson Institute for International Studies
of Brown University
in Providence, Rhode Island
, lecturing on the politics of self-determination for ethnic minorities.
as a representative to the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union from Armenia
. In the USSR Congress, she became a member of the reformist faction, the Inter-Regional Group of People’s Deputies, which was led by Sakharov and included other notables such as Yuri Shchekochikhin
, Sergei Yushenkov
, and Boris Yeltsin
. In the Congress, her work centered mostly around nationalities problems, plans for the new federation, and the drafting of a new Soviet constitution. She also advocated for the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh
during the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. In June 1990, Starovoitova also won a seat in the new RSFSR Congress of People’s Deputies (Russian Federation) from Leningrad
(now St. Petersburg), where she served until the dissolution of the Congress in September 1993. As with the USSR parliament, she won her seat in the Russian parliament by a landslide over a competing slate of men candidates.
In the summer of 1991, Starovoitova served as spokesperson for Yeltsin in his successful campaign for the presidency of the Russian Federation. At that time, Starovoitova had been promoted by several democratic forces for the post of either vice president or minister of defense. Instead, she became presidential advisor on interethnic issues until the end of 1992, when she was dismissed by Yeltsin apparently under pressure from conservative elements for criticizing Moscow's support for Ossetians
against the Ingush
in the North Caucasus
http://www.bu.edu/iscip/vol9/galina.html.
Before re-launching her legislative career in 1995, Starovoitova spent her time at the Institute for the Economy in Transition in Moscow
, as co-chair of the Democratic Russia Movement, and as a fellow in the Washington
-based United States Institute of Peace
. She also co-organized and participated at the international conferences “KGB: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow,” organized by the former political prisoner Sergei Grigoryants.
In 1995, she was elected to the Russian State Duma
from the political movement "Democratic Russia - Free Workers Union". The movement was led by her and two prominent members of the Moscow Helsinki Group
: Lev Ponomarev and the dissident
Orthodox
priest Gleb Yakunin
.
Galina Starovoitova was a strong defender of ethnic minorities. She said:
"If in accordance with international standards we recognize the rights of nations to self-determination
, we must recognize it also within Russia,"
http://www.bu.edu/iscip/vol9/galina.html. Together with Sergei Kovalev
and others, she conducted negotiations with Dzhokhar Dudaev
in attempt to prevent the First Chechen War
. They convinced Dudaev to sign a protocol where he agreed to withdraw his demands for immediate Chechen independence and begin official negotiations, according to another Duma member involved in the process, Valeriy Borschev http://www.svobodanews.ru/Transcript/2006/11/20/20061120202035617.html. However, Boris Yeltsin
decided to proceed with military operations, because Sergei Stepashin
(then FSK
director) and others convinced Yeltsin that military operations were necessary and would be very quick and successful When the war began, Starovoitova called Yeltsin "Boris the Bloody" and said: "The historic time of Yeltsin the reformer has passed, and his new regime can turn out to be dangerous not just for Russia." http://www.bu.edu/iscip/vol9/galina.html.
Over the years, Galina Starovoitova attended numerous international meetings and discussions, where she had conversations with world leaders including Margaret Thatcher
, Jacques Chirac
, Václav Havel
, Henry Kissinger
and Lech Wałęsa
.
Starovoitova was strongly against the omnipresence of security services in Russia and believed that lustration
is necessary, but none of the other elected representatives supported her http://www.svobodanews.ru/Transcript/2006/11/20/20061120202035617.html. Once she publicly said: "I propose a decision to order a medical examination of deputies of the State Duma, especially in the light of yesterday's voting on the battle against anti-semitism, when many of our colleagues gave us reason to doubt their mental health." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/219212.stm
In April 1998 she became the leader of "Democratic Russia
", then registered as an official party, in order to prepare for State Duma
elections in the coming December. She openly opposed the broad scope of FSB powers as a part of her political platform in "Democratic Russia
". She also campaigned against the nomination of Yevgeny Primakov
in the State Duma http://www.bu.edu/iscip/vol9/galina.html.
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9811/21/russia.slain.politician/index.html (former FSB
boss and future Prime Minister of Russia). In June 2005 two hitmen, Yuri Kolchin and Vitali Akishin, were convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 and 23 years of imprisonment respectively. Akishin was the one who actually pulled the trigger and Kolchin was one of the people who had organized the attack. On September 28, 2006, Vyacheslav Lelyavin was sentenced to 11 years in prison for his role in organizing the murder.http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/29/013.html Sergey Musin, Oleg Fedosov and Igor Bogdanov are still wanted for the investigation http://lenta.ru/news/2007/03/01/starovoitova/.
People who ordered this assassination and paid for it have never been found according to former Russian Parliament
member Valery Borshev. He compared the case to the murder of priest Alexander Men
allegedly by KGB agents http://www.svobodanews.ru/Transcript/2006/11/20/20061120202035617.html.
asserted that Starovoitova was murdered by the Russian state security services because she had a significant influence on Boris Yeltsin
and resisted to appointment of the former KGB general Yevgeny Primakov
to Prime Minister position
http://www.grani.ru/Politics/Russia/m.144242.html. She suggested that FSB general Viktor Cherkesov
who accompanied Starovoitova during her last trip abroad was apparently involved http://www.grani.ru/Politics/Russia/m.144242.html.
The award was sponsored by Irina Thomason and the Fund for the Protection of the Rights of Children and Women.
The recipients so far have been:
Chelyabinsk
Chelyabinsk is a city and the administrative center of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located in the northwestern side of the oblast, south of Yekaterinburg, just to the east of the Ural Mountains, on the Miass River. Population: -History:...
- November 20, 1998 St Petersburg) was a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n politician and ethnographer
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
known for her work to protect ethnic minorities and promote democratic reforms in Russia.
Early life and academic career
Born in the Ural mountainsUral Mountains
The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...
city of Chelyabinsk
Chelyabinsk
Chelyabinsk is a city and the administrative center of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located in the northwestern side of the oblast, south of Yekaterinburg, just to the east of the Ural Mountains, on the Miass River. Population: -History:...
to a Belarusian
Belarusians
Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...
father and a Russian mother, Starovoitova earned an undergraduate degree from the Leningrad College of Military Engineering in 1966 and an MA in social psychology
Social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. By this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all...
from Leningrad University in 1971. In 1980 she earned a doctorate in social anthropology
Social anthropology
Social Anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive field studies , the social organization of a particular person: customs,...
from the Institute of Ethnography, USSR Academy of Sciences, where she worked for seventeen years. Her PhD thesis, published in 1987, was a study of the Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
of Leningrad. She also published extensively on anthropological theory, cross-cultural studies, and Caucasian
Caucasian peoples
This article deals with the various ethnic groups inhabiting the Caucasus region. There are more than50 ethnic groups living in the region.-Peoples speaking Caucasian languages:...
anthropology—with fieldwork notably in the areas of Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
and Abkhazia
Abkhazia
Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...
. In early 1988, after the birth of the Armenian national-democratic movement, she became a supporter of the self-determination of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
region. In December 1988 she accompanied Academician Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
on a fateful trip to Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
and the Karabakh region in an attempt at mediation and reconciliation. From 1994 to 1998, she was a visiting professor at the Watson Institute for International Studies
Watson Institute for International Studies
The Watson Institute for International Studies is a center for the analysis of international issues at Brown University, focusing mainly on global security and political economy and society. Its faculty span a wide range of disciplines, including, anthropology, economics, political science, and...
of Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, lecturing on the politics of self-determination for ethnic minorities.
Political career
Galina Starovoitova began her political career in 1989, when she was electedSoviet Union legislative election, 1989
In 1989, elections were held for the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union. The main elections were held on 26 March and a second round on 9 April...
as a representative to the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union from Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. In the USSR Congress, she became a member of the reformist faction, the Inter-Regional Group of People’s Deputies, which was led by Sakharov and included other notables such as Yuri Shchekochikhin
Yuri Shchekochikhin
Yuri Petrovich Shchekochikhin was a Russian investigative journalist, writer, and liberal lawmaker of Russian parliament. Shchekochikhin made his name writing about and campaigning against the influence of organized crime and corruption...
, Sergei Yushenkov
Sergei Yushenkov
Sergei Yushenkov was a liberal Russian politician well known for his uncompromising struggle for democracy, rapid free market economic reforms, and higher human rights standards in Russia...
, and Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
. In the Congress, her work centered mostly around nationalities problems, plans for the new federation, and the drafting of a new Soviet constitution. She also advocated for the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
during the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. In June 1990, Starovoitova also won a seat in the new RSFSR Congress of People’s Deputies (Russian Federation) from Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
(now St. Petersburg), where she served until the dissolution of the Congress in September 1993. As with the USSR parliament, she won her seat in the Russian parliament by a landslide over a competing slate of men candidates.
In the summer of 1991, Starovoitova served as spokesperson for Yeltsin in his successful campaign for the presidency of the Russian Federation. At that time, Starovoitova had been promoted by several democratic forces for the post of either vice president or minister of defense. Instead, she became presidential advisor on interethnic issues until the end of 1992, when she was dismissed by Yeltsin apparently under pressure from conservative elements for criticizing Moscow's support for Ossetians
Ossetians
The Ossetians are an Iranic ethnic group of the Caucasus Mountains, eponymous of the region known as Ossetia.They speak Ossetic, an Iranian language of the Eastern branch, with most also fluent in Russian as a second language....
against the Ingush
Ingush
Ingush may refer to:* The Ingush language* The Ingush people, an ethnic group of the North Caucasus...
in the North Caucasus
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....
http://www.bu.edu/iscip/vol9/galina.html.
Before re-launching her legislative career in 1995, Starovoitova spent her time at the Institute for the Economy in Transition in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, as co-chair of the Democratic Russia Movement, and as a fellow in the Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
-based United States Institute of Peace
United States Institute of Peace
The United States Institute of Peace was created by Congress as a non-partisan, federal institution that works to prevent or end violent conflict around the world...
. She also co-organized and participated at the international conferences “KGB: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow,” organized by the former political prisoner Sergei Grigoryants.
In 1995, she was elected to the Russian State Duma
Duma
A Duma is any of various representative assemblies in modern Russia and Russian history. The State Duma in the Russian Empire and Russian Federation corresponds to the lower house of the parliament. Simply it is a form of Russian governmental institution, that was formed during the reign of the...
from the political movement "Democratic Russia - Free Workers Union". The movement was led by her and two prominent members of the Moscow Helsinki Group
Moscow Helsinki Group
The Moscow Helsinki Group is an influential human rights monitoring non-governmental organization, originally established in what was then the Soviet Union; it still operates in Russia....
: Lev Ponomarev and the dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
Orthodox
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
priest Gleb Yakunin
Gleb Yakunin
Gleb Pavlovich Yakunin is Russian priest and dissident who fought for the freedom of conscience in the Soviet Union. He was member of Moscow Helsinki Group, and he was elected to Russian Parliaments from 1990 to 1999.-Life:...
.
Galina Starovoitova was a strong defender of ethnic minorities. She said:
"If in accordance with international standards we recognize the rights of nations to self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
, we must recognize it also within Russia,"
http://www.bu.edu/iscip/vol9/galina.html. Together with Sergei Kovalev
Sergei Kovalev
Sergei Kovalev is a Russian human rights activist and politician and a former Soviet dissident and political prisoner.- Early career and arrest :...
and others, she conducted negotiations with Dzhokhar Dudaev
Dzhokhar Dudaev
Dzhokhar Musayevich Dudayev was a Soviet Air Force general and a Chechen leader, the first President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, a breakaway state in the North Caucasus.-Early life and military career:...
in attempt to prevent the First Chechen War
First Chechen War
The First Chechen War, also known as the War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996...
. They convinced Dudaev to sign a protocol where he agreed to withdraw his demands for immediate Chechen independence and begin official negotiations, according to another Duma member involved in the process, Valeriy Borschev http://www.svobodanews.ru/Transcript/2006/11/20/20061120202035617.html. However, Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
decided to proceed with military operations, because Sergei Stepashin
Sergei Stepashin
Sergei Vadimovich Stepashin is a Russian politician, current Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation and former Prime Minister of Russia. He was appointed federal security minister by President Boris Yeltsin in 1994...
(then FSK
FSB (Russia)
The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation is the main domestic security agency of the Russian Federation and the main successor agency of the Soviet Committee of State Security . Its main responsibilities are counter-intelligence, internal and border security, counter-terrorism, and...
director) and others convinced Yeltsin that military operations were necessary and would be very quick and successful When the war began, Starovoitova called Yeltsin "Boris the Bloody" and said: "The historic time of Yeltsin the reformer has passed, and his new regime can turn out to be dangerous not just for Russia." http://www.bu.edu/iscip/vol9/galina.html.
Over the years, Galina Starovoitova attended numerous international meetings and discussions, where she had conversations with world leaders including Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
, Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
, Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
, Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
and Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
.
Starovoitova was strongly against the omnipresence of security services in Russia and believed that lustration
Lustration
Lustration is the government process regulating the participation of former communists, especially informants of the communist secret police, in the successor political appointee positions or in civil service positions in the period after the fall of the various European Communist states in 1989 –...
is necessary, but none of the other elected representatives supported her http://www.svobodanews.ru/Transcript/2006/11/20/20061120202035617.html. Once she publicly said: "I propose a decision to order a medical examination of deputies of the State Duma, especially in the light of yesterday's voting on the battle against anti-semitism, when many of our colleagues gave us reason to doubt their mental health." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/219212.stm
In April 1998 she became the leader of "Democratic Russia
Democratic Russia
Democratic Russia was generic name for several political entities that played a transformative role in Russia's transition from Communist rule:...
", then registered as an official party, in order to prepare for State Duma
Duma
A Duma is any of various representative assemblies in modern Russia and Russian history. The State Duma in the Russian Empire and Russian Federation corresponds to the lower house of the parliament. Simply it is a form of Russian governmental institution, that was formed during the reign of the...
elections in the coming December. She openly opposed the broad scope of FSB powers as a part of her political platform in "Democratic Russia
Democratic Russia
Democratic Russia was generic name for several political entities that played a transformative role in Russia's transition from Communist rule:...
". She also campaigned against the nomination of Yevgeny Primakov
Yevgeny Primakov
Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov is a Russian politician and diplomat. During his long career, he served as the Russian Foreign Minister, Prime Minister of Russia, Speaker of the Soviet of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, and chief of intelligence service...
in the State Duma http://www.bu.edu/iscip/vol9/galina.html.
Assassination and investigation
Starovoitova was gunned down in the entryway of her apartment building on November 20, 1998. Her aide, Ruslan Linkov, was wounded in the attack. The murder investigation took place under the personal control of Interior Minister Sergei StepashinSergei Stepashin
Sergei Vadimovich Stepashin is a Russian politician, current Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation and former Prime Minister of Russia. He was appointed federal security minister by President Boris Yeltsin in 1994...
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9811/21/russia.slain.politician/index.html (former FSB
FSB (Russia)
The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation is the main domestic security agency of the Russian Federation and the main successor agency of the Soviet Committee of State Security . Its main responsibilities are counter-intelligence, internal and border security, counter-terrorism, and...
boss and future Prime Minister of Russia). In June 2005 two hitmen, Yuri Kolchin and Vitali Akishin, were convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 and 23 years of imprisonment respectively. Akishin was the one who actually pulled the trigger and Kolchin was one of the people who had organized the attack. On September 28, 2006, Vyacheslav Lelyavin was sentenced to 11 years in prison for his role in organizing the murder.http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/29/013.html Sergey Musin, Oleg Fedosov and Igor Bogdanov are still wanted for the investigation http://lenta.ru/news/2007/03/01/starovoitova/.
People who ordered this assassination and paid for it have never been found according to former Russian Parliament
State Duma
The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
member Valery Borshev. He compared the case to the murder of priest Alexander Men
Alexander Men
Father Alexander Vladimirovich Men was a Russian Orthodox theologian, Biblical scholar and writer.Father Alexander wrote dozen of books ; baptized hundreds if not thousands; founded an Orthodox Open University; opened one of the first Sunday Schools in...
allegedly by KGB agents http://www.svobodanews.ru/Transcript/2006/11/20/20061120202035617.html.
Conspiracy theory
Valeria NovodvorskayaValeria Novodvorskaya
Valeriya Ilyinichna Novodvorskaya is a liberal Russian politician, Soviet dissident, the founder and the chairwoman of the "Democratic Union" party, and a member of the editorial board of The New Times...
asserted that Starovoitova was murdered by the Russian state security services because she had a significant influence on Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
and resisted to appointment of the former KGB general Yevgeny Primakov
Yevgeny Primakov
Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov is a Russian politician and diplomat. During his long career, he served as the Russian Foreign Minister, Prime Minister of Russia, Speaker of the Soviet of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, and chief of intelligence service...
to Prime Minister position
Prime Minister of Russia
The Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation The use of the term "Prime Minister" is strictly informal and is not allowed for by the Russian Constitution and other laws....
http://www.grani.ru/Politics/Russia/m.144242.html. She suggested that FSB general Viktor Cherkesov
Viktor Cherkesov
Viktor Vasilyevich Cherkesov is a Russian security services official.He graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1973...
who accompanied Starovoitova during her last trip abroad was apparently involved http://www.grani.ru/Politics/Russia/m.144242.html.
Award
Shortly before her death, Galina Starovoitova established an award "for contributions to the protection of human rights and consolidation of democracy in Russia".The award was sponsored by Irina Thomason and the Fund for the Protection of the Rights of Children and Women.
The recipients so far have been:
- Gleb YakuninGleb YakuninGleb Pavlovich Yakunin is Russian priest and dissident who fought for the freedom of conscience in the Soviet Union. He was member of Moscow Helsinki Group, and he was elected to Russian Parliaments from 1990 to 1999.-Life:...
, a Russian Orthodox priest - Moscow Helsinki GroupMoscow Helsinki GroupThe Moscow Helsinki Group is an influential human rights monitoring non-governmental organization, originally established in what was then the Soviet Union; it still operates in Russia....
founder Larisa BogorazLarisa BogorazLarisa Iosifovna Bogoraz was a dissident in the Soviet Union.... - Former St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly SobchakAnatoly SobchakAnatoly Alexandrovich Sobchak was a Russian politician, a co-author of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the first democratically elected mayor of Saint Petersburg, and a mentor and teacher of both Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev....
, - The Soldiers' Mothers of St. Petersburg
- Former deputy of the State Duma, Yuli Rybakov
- Leader of the Democratic UnionDemocratic Union (Russia)Democratic Union is a Russian liberal party led by a controversial Russian female politician Valeria Novodvorskaya. The orientation has been radically liberal and pro-reform...
, Valeria NovodvorskayaValeria NovodvorskayaValeriya Ilyinichna Novodvorskaya is a liberal Russian politician, Soviet dissident, the founder and the chairwoman of the "Democratic Union" party, and a member of the editorial board of The New Times...
.
External links
- Galina Starovoitova tribute page
- Thousands mourn slain Russian lawmaker - CNN
- St. Petersburg Court Sentences Two, Frees Four In Starovoitova Murder - Radio Free Europe
- In Memoriam: Galina Vasilyevna Starovoitova - Russian Commerce News
- USIP — Sovereignty after Empire Self-Determination Movements in the Former Soviet Union. Case Studies: Nagorno-Karabakh. by Galina Starovoitova, Publication of the United States Institute of PeaceUnited States Institute of PeaceThe United States Institute of Peace was created by Congress as a non-partisan, federal institution that works to prevent or end violent conflict around the world...
(USIP) - Russia: High-Profile Killings, Attempted Killings In The Post-Soviet Period, Radio Free EuropeRadio Free EuropeRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...
, October 19, 2006 - Anna Polyanskaya about Galina Starovoitova (Russian)
- What was Starovoitova killed for? Interview with Ruslan Linkov, by Anna Polyanskaya, May 3, 2005. Machine translation.