22 Facts About Gennady Burbulis

Gennady Eduardovich Burbulis was a Russian politician.

Gennady Burbulis was one of the most influential Russian political figures in the late 1980s and early 1990s and one of the main architects of Russian political and economic reform.

Gennady Burbulis described how his decision to keep a Lithuanian surname against the urging of his Russian mother cost him the position of the first and only Vice President of Russia in 1991, a position that went to Alexander Rutskoy; according to Burbulis Yeltsin told him that his surname was "questionable for the Russian electorate".

Gennady Burbulis's father Eduard Kazimirovich was a military pilot, and his mother Valentina Vasilievna Belonogova was an ethnic Russian.

Gennady Burbulis graduated from the philosophy department of Ural State University and later was awarded a Candidate of Science degree.

Gennady Burbulis taught in several institutions of higher education in and around Sverdlovsk.

In 1987, during the perestroika period, Gennady Burbulis organized the Sverdlovsk Podium, an open forum for discussing local and later national social, political, and economic problems.

Gennady Burbulis was one of the initiators of the Inter-regional Deputies' Group, the first legally organized opposition in the Soviet Union, which was later credited by some with being one of the prime catalysts for democratic reform.

In 1989, Gennady Burbulis became acquainted with Boris Yeltsin, who had been elected to the Congress of People's Deputies with 90 percent of the vote.

Gennady Burbulis nominated him to the post of Chairman of the Supreme Soviet, which he was elected to on 29 May 1990.

Yeltsin appointed Gennady Burbulis his authorized representative and deputy chairman of his Higher Consultation and Coordination Council.

Yeltsin declared his candidacy for the newly established post of president and Gennady Burbulis organized his election campaign.

From 6 November 1991, until 14 April 1992, Gennady Burbulis was First Deputy to the Chairman of the Government.

Effectively the second leader in the Russian government after Yeltsin, Gennady Burbulis was responsible for developing the strategy and overseeing the implementation of political and economic reforms.

Gennady Burbulis made significant contributions to the shaping of foreign policy and domestic security issues.

Gennady Burbulis was one of the drafters and signers of the Belavezha Accords that effectively ended the Soviet Union and founded the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Gennady Burbulis served briefly as the head of a group of advisors to the president and then left the federal administration.

In 1993, Gennady Burbulis founded the Strategy Center for Humanitarian and Political Science.

Gennady Burbulis was elected to the State Duma twice and served as a deputy from 14 January 1994, to 18 January 2000.

Gennady Burbulis served as deputy to the governor of Novgorod Oblast from 5 June 2000 to 14 November 2001, after which he represented Novgorod in the Federal Assembly from 14 November 2001, to 5 September 2007.

Gennady Burbulis died on 19 June 2022 in Baku, Azerbaijan, where he took part in the Global Baku Forum at the age of 76.

Gennady Burbulis was married, Natalya Kirsanova, who studied with him at university, and taught philosophy at the Ural Forest Engineering Institute.