Sergei Vadimowitsch Stepashin

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Sergei Stepashin (2018)

Sergei Vadimowitsch Stepashin ( Russian Сергей Вадимович Степашин ; born March 2, 1952 in Port Arthur , China ) is a Russian politician . In 1999, he was Prime Minister of Russia under President Boris Yeltsin for 89 days from May 12th to August 9th .

education

Stepashin is the son of a Soviet naval officer who was stationed in Port Arthur in the Far East. The Soviet Union dissolved the naval base in 1952. Stepashin was denied training as a naval officer because of his nearsightedness. In the early 1970s, his family moved to Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg ). In 1973, Stepashin graduated from the Political School of the Ministry of the Interior in Leningrad (dissertation “The party leaderships in the Leningrad leadership in the fire service during the blockade”) and in 1981 the humanistic military academy , where he received his doctorate in history. He also graduated in law and in 2002 from the Russian Academy of Finance .

politics

1973–1980 Stepashin worked for the Interior Ministry's security forces . As a colonel , he led operations in several Soviet republics to suppress protests for independence and democracy. He then lectured (with the rank of lieutenant colonel ) until 1990 in the subject of Marxism-Leninism at the Political School of the Ministry of the Interior.

During the perestroika era , Stepashin entered current politics. In 1990 he was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Republic and there in the reform communist faction "Left Center" in a leading position. Stepashin loyally sided with the reform-oriented government of Yeltsin in the Supreme Soviet, which was dominated by old communists. Until 1993 Stepashin headed the Security and Defense Committee.

Counter-coup

During the August coup in Moscow in 1991, the lieutenant general helped defend the White House and shortly thereafter joined the Russian security service. After the Russian constitutional crisis in 1993, Stepashin was appointed the first deputy minister for state security, the first deputy director of the FSK (Federal Counter-Espionage Service, formerly the KGB , since 1995 FSB ), and until 1995 director of the FSK. The FSB emerged from the KGB in 1993. Yeltsin had no confidence in the KGB cadres involved in the two crises, and put Stepashin, a member of the Interior Ministry's rival special force, at the head of the newly created counter-espionage service.

In order to prevent “ atomic smuggling ”, Stepashin agreed in August 1994 with the German secret service coordinator Bernd Schmidbauer that the secret services should work better together . (At the beginning of August 300 grams of plutonium -23 were found at Munich airport ( plutonium affair )).

Chechnya war

Under Stepashin line had combat units of the FSK, reinforced by officers of the army , trying to obscure the Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev overthrow. Stepashin, as a "falcon" , had advocated the invasion of December 1994 in the first Chechnya war , was released in June 1995 for serious misjudgments during the hostage-taking of Budyonnovsk (150 dead when a hospital was stormed, Yeltsin: "The terrorists completely surprised us"), but remained secretary of the Russian Chechnya Commission. Until 1997 he worked in the government as head of the administrative department, which u. a. Prepared analyzes for Domestic Intelligence and the Ministry of Interior and Justice.

Ministerial post

In several government reshuffles, Yeltsin appointed the loyal Stepashin as justice minister in July 1997 (photos of a visit to the sex club were published by his predecessor Valentin Kovalev), in March 1998 as interior minister under the new governments of Sergei Kiriyenko and Yevgeny Primakov, and in 1999 as first deputy prime minister . The Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of the Interior and the FSB reported directly to the President. As Interior Minister, Stepashin signed an agreement with the German Interior Minister Otto Schily on the fight against organized crime ("Russian Mafia").

Prime Minister

For corruption investigations against the government and the billionaire Boris Abramowitsch Berezovsky , Yeltsin suspended the chief prosecutor general Yuri Skuratov in 1999 . Stepashin had previously collected incriminating “evidence” against Skuratov in a filth campaign (a video showing a man similar to Skuratov with two prostitutes).

In order to prevent impeachment proceedings against him and to ensure the loyalty of the government, Yeltsin dismissed the previous Russian Prime Minister Evgeny Primakov on May 12, 1999 on charges of being too close to the communists and too timid economic reforms , and appointed Stepashin as head of government. If Stepashin had not been approved by parliament in three ballots, the president would have had to dissolve parliament (Rule 111). However, the Russian Constitution provides that the Duma may not be dissolved for three months if the president is impeached (Article 109). The constitution does not provide for both procedures to run in parallel and could justify the declaration of a state of emergency. In the event of a constitutional conflict, a decision would have fallen to the Yeltsin-affiliated constitutional court. The majority in parliament rejected the initiation of the impeachment procedure and confirmed the 47-year-old Stepashin in office (301 out of 450 votes, 55 against) on May 19. Yeltsin was able to save his post against Parliament. Stepashin was also elected because parliament had to expect that Yeltsin would present a less acceptable candidate than the incorruptible police general in the second ballot. He told the MPs, “I am not General Pinochet. My name is Stepashin ”.

The Russian Prime Minister is mainly responsible for a uniform financial, credit and monetary policy. Neither Primakov nor Stepashin were finance professionals. Stepashin was elected because of Yeltsin's political interests. The shy and honest-looking man was nicknamed Stepashka after a little rabbit in Moscow's children's TV program.

Nikolai Aksjonenko, a confidante of the financial magnate Berezovsky, who was said to have close ties and influence to the Yeltsin family and thus to the president, became vice-prime minister against Stepashin's will. Russian and Western media saw the appointment of the loyal apparatchik Stepashin above all as a "game of intrigue" of the sick Yeltsin and his so-called Kremlin "family" (Russian: " Semja "), an informal group of advisors to the president around his bustling daughter Tatiana Djachenko and the Oligarch Berezovsky. A sensible policy in Russia was hardly possible bypassing the “family”.

Stepashin had declared war on corruption and the Russian economic oligarchy and showed himself to be willing to reform and independent, which worried the “family”. On the other hand, according to the “family”, Stepashin did not take decisive action against rivals Luzhkov and Primakov. On August 9, 1999, Yeltsin dismissed Stepashin as prime minister and appointed Vladimir Putin , head of the FSB, as his successor. Yeltsin also recommended Putin as a candidate in the 2000 presidential election. Stepashin told the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda: "I was thrown out because I could not be bought [...] I refused to serve the interests of a certain group that then became the It was assessed that I was not reliable. ”However, he continued to emphasize his loyalty to the president. The Russian Trading System Dollar Index (RTS-Interfax) fell 14% after Stepaschin's dismissal, but recovered shortly afterwards. One of Putin's first acts as president was an amnesty in the form of a decree granting Yeltsin and his family immunity from prosecution.

Chechen combat groups invaded Dagestan in August. The resurgence of the Chechen conflict and the consideration of surrendering the North Caucasus were further reasons for Stepashin's dismissal. Putin's crackdown in the Second Chechen War brought Putin high popularity in Russia, which benefited his later election as president.

Subject to economic reforms, the IMF granted Russia a loan of $ 4.5 billion during Stepashin's visit to the USA at the end of July. The Kosovo War also fell during his term of office , in which Russia played an important mediating role.

duma

For the 1999 election of the Russian Duma, Stepashin was on the list of the liberal Yabloko party . Stepashin won a direct mandate in his native Saint Petersburg and became chairman of the anti-corruption commission. Commenting on the election results, Stepashin said: “With their unprecedented smear campaign, the powerful have achieved the result they wanted.” Stepashin decided not to run for the Duma presidency after the KPRF and Unity parties had agreed on the communist Gennady Seleznjow.

Court of Auditors

In April 2000, the Duma elected Stepashin as chairman of the Russian Court of Auditors. Stepashin then left his mandate as a member of parliament. Following a legal reorganization of the chamber, he resigned from his post in February (the chairman was no longer elected by the Duma), but was reinstated on Putin's recommendation.

In its political endeavors to overthrow the Russian oligarchs and to collect tax debts for the Russian state, the government commissioned the Court of Auditors in December 2003 to review the legality of the privatization of large Russian corporations over the past ten years (sales prices were too low). The government accused the oil company Yukos of tax evasion (2.6 billion euros) and broke it up. The head of the company Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested in October.

The report of the Court of Auditors for the period between 1993 and 2003 has not yet been published.

In May 2004, Stepashin made claims in the millions against the billionaire Roman Abramowitsch .

Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society

Stepashin has been President of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society since 2007 and is responsible for considerable real estate and Russian interests in the Holy Land . In April 2014 he visited Bashar al-Assad in this capacity , assured him of the support of the society and brought him a message from Putin.

family

Stepashin is married to Tamara Vladimirovna, the vice-president of the "Bankers House in St. Petersburg" (Bankirskij Dom St. Petersburg), who runs the Moscow branch. The couple have one son, Vladimir.

Web links

Commons : Sergei Stepashin  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Sergei Stepashin  - Quotes (Russian)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Head of the Audit Office, new chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society , RIA Novosti report from June 14, 2007, accessed on May 6, 2014
  2. ^ Head of the Russian Palestine Society transmits Putin's oral message to Assad , RIA Novosti report from April 2, 2014, accessed on May 6, 2014; Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society Chairman: Syria is fighting international terrorism , bulletin April 7, 2014, accessed May 6, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Stepashin, Sergei Vadimowitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Степашин, Сергей Вадимович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian politician, prime minister (1999)
DATE OF BIRTH March 2, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Port Arthur , China