Viktor Alksnis

Viktor Alksnis
As a Russian State Duma Deputy
Member of the State Duma
In office
January 2000 – November 2007
Personal details
Born (1950-06-21) June 21, 1950 (age 74)
Tashtagol, Kemerovo Oblast, Soviet Union
CitizenshipRussian
NationalityLatvian

Viktor Imantovich Alksnis (Russian: Виктор Имантович Алкснис, Latvian: Viktors Alksnis; born 21 June 1950) is a Russian politician and former Soviet Air Force colonel of Latvian descent.[1][2] He is the chairman of the Russian Center of Free Technologies,[3] an organization intended to promote Free Software and open standards in Russia. He is a former member of the USSR Supreme Soviet, a member of the Russian All-People's Union and has also represented the Rodina (Motherland-National Patriotic Union) party in the Russian State Duma. From 2003 to 2007, he represented the People's Union party in the Fourth Duma.[4][5]

Due to his political views and personal style, Alksnis was nicknamed "the Black Colonel",[6][7][8] an allusion to the Soviet term "Black Colonels" (Russian: Чёрные полковники) for the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.

  1. ^ Kimura, Hiroshi (2000). Japanese-Russian Relations under Gorbachev and Yeltsin. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-7656-0587-0. OCLC 43115021. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
  2. ^ Chung, Eunsook (1998). Foreign Policy Making in Russia: An Analysis of Domestic Entanglements. Sungnam: Sejong Institute. p. 72. ISBN 978-89-7429-342-0. OCLC 43760158. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
  3. ^ Center of Free Technologies
  4. ^ "Партия национального возрождения «Народная Воля» | Члены партии | Алкснис Виктор Имантович" (in Russian). Archived from the original on January 8, 2008. Retrieved March 17, 2008.
  5. ^ http://www.duma.gov.ru/index.jsp?t=history/4/99100952.html[permanent dead link‍] (in Russian)
  6. ^ Remnick, David (1994). Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire. New York: Vintage. p. 385. ISBN 978-0-679-75125-0. OCLC 29389418. Retrieved 28 November 2008. With his high black pompadour and black leather jacket, Alksnis was known in the liberal press as the "black colonel," the Darth Vader of the hard-line set.
  7. ^ McCauley, Martin (1997). Who's Who in Russia Since 1900. London; New York: Routledge. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-415-13898-7. OCLC 35593895. Retrieved 28 November 2008. He acquired the sobriquet the 'black colonel'[.]
  8. ^ Senn, Alfred Erich (1995). Gorbachev's Failure in Lithuania. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-312-12457-1. OCLC 31287398. Retrieved 28 November 2008. Particularly prominent among the critics of his Baltic policy was a Latvian, Viktor Alksnis, known as "the Black Colonel" [...]