Konstantin Borovoi

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Natanovich and the family name is Borovoi.

Konstantin Borovoi
Константин Боровой
Borovoi in 2023
Member of the State Duma
In office
17 January 1996 – 24 December 1999
Preceded byYury Vlasov
Succeeded byAlexander Shokhin
ConstituencyTushino
Personal details
Born (1948-06-30) 30 June 1948 (age 76)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Political party
Alma materMoscow State University
OccupationPolitician, entrepreneur

Konstantin Natanovich Borovoi (Russian: Константи́н Ната́нович Борово́й; born 30 June 1948) is a liberal[1] Russian politician and entrepreneur, Russian Parliament Member (1995–2000), former Chair of Party of Economic Freedom (1992–2003), and Chair of Party Western Choice (since 17 March 2013).

Biography

Borovoi was born in 1948 in Moscow and is the son of a math professor. He is a graduate of Moscow State University Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics (1974). In 1990, he founded the first Russian commodities market,[2][3] and was its president from 1990 to 1992. He also opened the first clearing bank, an investment company and the first business-news wire.[4] He was a financial director of Russia's Open Film Festival.[5]

In 1992, he created an Economic Freedom Party (Russian: Партия экономической свободы (ПЭС), Partiya Ekonomicheskoi svobody).[6] The party ran in the 1995 parliamentary elections, but received 0.13% of the proportional representation vote, failing to cross the electoral threshold. However, it did win a constituency seat in the State Duma, taken by Borovoi.[7] The party was deregistered in 2003.

In April 1996, he was speaking with the President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Dzhokhar Dudayev by phone when Dudayev was assassinated by two laser-guided missiles, after his location was detected by a Russian reconnaissance aircraft, which intercepted his phone call.[8][9]

Up until December 1999, Borovoi was a member of the State Duma,[10] representing the Tushino constituency.[11]

In the spring of 2013, together with Valeriya Novodvorskaya, he created a liberal political party, Western Choice. On 17 March, he was elected its president.

In 2019, Borovoi fled to the United States after learning that there were plans to assassinate him.[12]

Political activism

Borovoi with Valeriya Novodvorskaya in 2009

Borovoi self-identifies primarily as a liberal politician. In 1991, he participated in the resistance to the Communist Coup d'État in Russia State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP).[13] On 20 August 1991, he and the 2,000 members of his stock exchange carried a huge flag of Russia to the White House, Russia's parliament building. From 2001 to 2004 Editor-in-Chief of America Magazine. In the spring of 2010, he was among the 34 first signatories of the online anti-Putin campaign "Putin Must Go" (Путин должен уйти).[14] The campaign was begun by a coalition of opposition to Putin who regard his rule as lacking any rule of law. Together with Valeriya Novodvorskaya, he made video clips which he published on Live Journal, Facebook and YouTube. In 2012, he created a campaign called "Russia without Hitler".[15] In 2016, he created the Valeriya Novodvorskaya Foundation.[16]

Bibliography

  • Konstantin Borovoi, The Price of Freedom. M.: Novosti, 1993. 240 pages, 100 000 copies. ISBN 5-7020-0829-4 (in Russian)
  • Konstantin Borovoi, Twelve Most Successful. How to Become Rich. M.: Vagrius, 2003. 224 pages. ISBN 5-264-00881-7 (in Russian)
  • Konstantin Borovoi, Prostitution in Russia. Report from the bottom of Moscow. M.: Vagrius, 2007. 272 pages. ISBN 978-5-9697-0405-3, ISBN 978-5-9697-0393-3 (in Russian)

References

  1. ^ Lukin, Alexander (2000). The political culture of the Russian "democrats" (1. publ. ed.). Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press. p. 260n. ISBN 978-0-19-829558-7.
  2. ^ "Bilked Russian Investors Search for Redemption". www.nytimes.com. 30 August 1995. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  3. ^ "A market grows in Russia". www.forbes.com. 8 June 1992. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  4. ^ "Out of Russia: Moscow's father of capitalism sires a political party". Independent.co.uk. 10 September 1992. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  5. ^ Где дремлют мёртвые
  6. ^ "Партия экономической свободы (ПЭС) Лидер - Константин Боровой". Panorama.ru. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  7. ^ Jackson, Nicole J. (4 September 2003). Russian Foreign Policy and the CIS. Routledge. ISBN 9781134403592. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  8. ^ "TIME TO SET THE CHECHEN FREE". 5 April 2010. Archived from the original on 5 January 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  9. ^ Robert Young Pelton (2 March 2012). "Kill the messenger". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 16 August 2012.
  10. ^ Keefe, Patrick Radden (11 July 2006). Chatter: Uncovering the Echelon Surveillance Network and the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 9781588365330. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  11. ^ "БОРОВОЙ Константин Натанович" [Borovoy, Konstantin Natanovich]. State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (in Russian).
  12. ^ Russia's disinformation campaign against the U.S. Penn Today.
  13. ^ "Wheeling and Dealing, Moscow Style; Soviet Entrepreneurs Lobbying Hard to End Socialist Stagnation". www.washingtonpost.com. 26 September 1991. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  14. ^ "Konstantin Borovoi's blog, 16 March 2010". Livejournal.com. 16 March 2010. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
  15. ^ Schwirtz, Michael (29 January 2012). "Russian Liberals Growing Uneasy With Alliances". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  16. ^ "Jevgeni Krištafovitš: Kuidas mu emakeelest tehakse okupatsioonikeel". Delfi.ee. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Konstantin Borovoi.