Alexander Korzhakov

Alexander Vasilyevich Korzhakov (Александр Васильевич Коржаков; born 31 January 1950) is a Russian former KGB general who served as Boris Yeltsin's bodyguard, confidant, and adviser for eleven years.

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.

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 (Всесоюзный юридический заочный институт Moskovskiy Yuridichesky Institut, Zaochny fakultet).

Following service in Afghanistan in 1981–1982, he was one of General Secretary 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".

In 1989, Korzhakov gave notice about his resignation from the Communist Party and was subsequently expelled for "non-payment of the party dues".

After the incident on 28 September 1989, when Boris Yeltsin fell from a bridge, Korzhakov set up a unit of former KGB agents to protect Yeltsin.

He was the head of the Presidential Security Service (PSB) from 1991 to 1996, State Duma deputy from 1997 to 2011, and retired Lieutenant-general.

Korzhakov had been Yeltsin's bodyguard since 1985, and on 19 August 1991, he stood next to his boss on top of a tank during Yeltsin's historic speech.

Being the Chief of the Security Service, Korzhakov was widely criticized for interfering in government affairs and business.

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 4 October 1993, when the White House of Russia was stormed.

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.

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.

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.

He was regarded as one of the hard-liners of Yeltsin's team, a strong backer of the war in Chechnya, and an opponent to holding the presidential election in 1996.

Running up to the 1996 presidential election, there were serious doubts that President Boris Yeltsin would allow elections to take place.

On 5 May 1996, Korzhakov explicitly called for postponing the elections.

However, the elections took place as planned and Yeltsin finished first on 16 June 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 3 July 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 19 June 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, 20 June 1996, Korzhakov was abruptly dismissed by Yeltsin at the urging of Chubais.

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.

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".

Alexander Korzhakov was born in Moscow to a worker family.

After graduating at secondary school, he worked as an assembly worker.

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 criticized, however, only few people have accused the author of inventing or distorting the major facts.

An important contribution of the biography is its description of the anti-democratic mentality inside the Kremlin.