10 Facts About Gennadiy Seleznyov

Gennadiy Nikolayevich Seleznyov was a Russian politician, the Chairman of the State Duma from 1996 to 2003.

Gennadiy Seleznyov went to study journalism and joined the communist party.

When Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko opened the markets, Gennadiy Seleznyov protested saying the Russian economy wasn't ready yet.

Gennadiy Seleznyov gained a degree of infamy during his time as speaker for his announcement, shortly before an apartment bombing in Moscow, that an apartment building in Volgodonsk had been bombed.

Gennadiy Seleznyov originally supported the new President Vladimir Putin when the latter made a majority, making an alliance with the centrists and the ultra-rightist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.

Gennadiy Seleznyov then said that the Communist Party had to adapt to the new generation and to adopt liberal social values creating a Eurocommunist party.

However, party leader Gennadiy Zyuganov dismissed such calls and in 2002 Seleznyov was expelled from the party.

Gennadiy Seleznyov received support from former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and was considered a Social Democrat.

In 1999 Gennadiy Seleznyov ran for Governor of Moscow Oblast.

Gennadiy Seleznyov died from complications due to lung cancer in Moscow on 19 July 2015.