BARANNIKOV, VIKTOR PAVLOVICH

(1940–1995), minister of internal affairs of the USSR; minister of internal affairs, minister of security.

Born in Primorskoy Kray of the Soviet Far East, Barannikov joined the militia organs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1961. A graduate of the Higher School of the Militia, he rose to prominence under President Boris Yeltsin and was appointed minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic in September 1990, a post he held until August 1991. In the aftermath of the unsuccessful August coup in 1991, he was appointed minister of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union. After the end of the Soviet Union, Barannikov was appointed director-general of the Federal Security Agency of the Russian Republic in December 1991 and held that post briefly until he was appointed minister of security and head of the Federal Counter-Intelligence Service of the Russian Republic in January 1992. He held that post until July 1993, when he broke with Yeltsin over the emerging struggle between the president and the Russian parliament. In October 1993 he was arrested as one of the conspirators of the White House revolt against Yeltsin. Barannikov was freed from prison in 1994 by an act of the State Duma and died of a heart attack in 1995. Barannikov held the rank of General of the Army in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

See also: october 1993 events; yeltsin, boris nikolayevich

bibliography

Gevorkian, Natalia. (1993). "The KGB: 'They Still Need Us'." Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (January/February 1993):36–38.

Knight, Amy. (1996). Spies without Cloaks: The KGB's Successors. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Waller, J. Michael, and Yasmann, Victor J. (1995). "Russia's Great Criminal Revolution: The Role of the Security Services." Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 11(4).

Jacob W. Kipp