Eduard Kuznetsov (dissident)

For other people named Eduard Kuznetsov, see Eduard Kuznetsov (disambiguation).
In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Samoilovich and the family name is Kuznetsov.

Eduard Kuznetsov
Kuznetsov in 2009
Kuznetsov in 2009
Native name
אדוארד קוזנצוב
Born (1939-01-29) 29 January 1939 (age 85)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
(now Russian Federation)
Alma materMoscow State University
Literary movementHuman rights movement in the Soviet Union
Years active1958–present
Notable works
    • Prison Diaries (1973)
    • Mordovian Marathon (1979)
    • Russian Romance (1984)

Edward Samoilovich Kuznetsov (Russian: Эдуа́рд Само́йлович Кузнецо́в, Hebrew: אדוארד קוזנצוב; born 29 January 1939) is a Soviet-Israeli dissident, refusenik, journalist, and writer. One of the leaders of the 1970 Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair, Kuznetsov's case drew international attention following his death sentence. As a result of global protests, his sentence was commuted to fifteen years' imprisonment.

Dymshits was released in 1979 as part of a prisoner exchange between the Soviet Union and the United States, and he subsequently made aliyah to Israel. Throughout the 1980s, Kuznetsov participated in the operations of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty before beginning the publication of the Russian-language Vesti in 1992. Kuznetsov is also a writer, having written three novels (two of which were written during his prison sentence and smuggled out of the country).