Mikhail Poltoranin

Mikhail Nikiforovich Poltoranin (Russian: Михаил Никифорович Полторанин; born 22 November 1939) is a Russian journalist and politician who held senior government posts under the first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin. Most notably, Poltoranin served as the minister of information and later as the deputy prime minister for the sphere of the press and news.

Mikhail Poltoranin
Михаил Полторанин
Deputy Prime Minister
In office
February – November 1992
PresidentBoris Yeltsin
Prime MinisterBoris Yeltsin
Yegor Gaidar (acting)
Minister of Press and Mass Media
In office
July 1990 – November 1992
PresidentMikhail Gorbachev
Boris Yeltsin
Prime MinisterBoris Yeltsin
Yegor Gaidar (acting)
Preceded byIvan Vorozheikin
Succeeded byMikhail Fedotov
Personal details
Born (1939-11-22) November 22, 1939
Leninogorsk, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union
NationalityRussian
ProfessionJournalist, television presenter

Biography

During the Soviet era he worked with the Communist Party daily Moskovskaya Pravda.[1]

In early 1992, as part of the new government formed by Boris Yeltsin, Mikhail Poltoranin was among the several Deputy Prime Ministers. His role was to oversee the ministries regarding the press and cultural sphere.[2] In April of that year, Vice President of Russia Alexander Rutskoy accused Yeltsin and his allies in various acts of corruption, including Poltoranin, who was accused of illegally selling off Russian property in Berlin.[3]

On August 3–8, 1992, Poltoranin visited Japan where he discussed the Kuril Islands dispute with Japanese officials, and proposed to get the United States involved in the question.[4] The goal of this was to make sure that Russia's security interests in the region were addressed.[5]

Poltoranin ended up being sacked on 25 November 1992 from both his post as Minister of Information and Deputy Chairman of Government of the Russian Federation. This was largely viewed as a move to placate the conservative opposition by President Yeltsin, who wanted to win their support in the Congress of People's Deputies of Russia for his economic plan. Poltoranin understood this and accepted the status of being a political sacrifice.[1][6]

Works

After stepping down from the government, Poltoranin published a book titled The lonely tsar in the Kremlin: Yeltsin and his team during the late 1990s.[7]

Racist views

Poltoranin expresses vehemently anti-Vainakh sentiments in his writings. In Chapter 5 of his book "Powerful as TNT. The Legend of Tsar Boris" (Russian: Власть в тротиловом эквиваленте. Наследие царя Бориса) he describes allowing exiled Chechens to return to Chechnya as "Chechenization of Russia", uses the phrase "acting Vainakh" as an insult, and compares Vainakh lands to sewage pits to support his reason for wanting to have a Chechen-Ingush Republic in East Kazakhstan instead of inside the North Caucuses of Russia.[8][9]

Sources

References
  1. Bohlen, Celestine (26 November 1992). Minister of Information Is Dismissed by Yeltsin. The New York Times. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  2. Huskey (1992), pp. 257–58
  3. Knight (1997), p. 55
  4. Kuhrt (2007), p. 74
  5. Goodby, Ivanov, Shimotomari (1995), p. 332
  6. Goldberg, Carey (26 November 1992). Key Yeltsin Aide Resigns in Sacrifice for His Boss : Russia: Mikhail Poltoranin was on hit lists of president's hard-line opponents. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  7. From the Database. Boston University; original interview published in Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 14 November 1998. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  8. Poltoranin, Mikhail (2010). Власть в тротиловом эквиваленте. Наследие царя Бориса. Moscow: Yeskmo. pp. 155–169. ISBN 9785699449613. OCLC 680428124.
  9. Gadaborshev, Abu. "Кто привлечет М. Полторанина к суду". Checheninfo.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-11-15.

Books
  • James Goodby; Vladimir Ivanov; Nobuo Shimotomari (1995). "Northern Territories" and Beyond: Russian, Japanese, and American Perspectives. Praeger. ISBN 978-0275950934.
  • Huskey, Eugene (1992). Executive Power and Soviet Politics. Routledge. ISBN 978-1563240607.
  • Knight, Amy (1997). Spies without Cloaks: The KGB's Successors. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691017181.
  • Kuhrt, Natasha (2007). Russian Policy towards China and Japan: The El'tsin and Putin Periods. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415674881.
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