Lukyanov, Anatoly Ivanovich

(1930– )

   Politician. Born in Smolensk, Anatoly Lyukanov graduated from Moscow State University. He rose through the ranks of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, becoming a candidate member of the Politburo in the late Gorbachev era. As chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), he was arrested in connection with events of the 1991 August Coup, but during his 18-month-long incarceration maintained that he was not part of the putsch. In the early 1990s, Lyukanov—along with Gennady Zyuganov and Yegor Ligachev—was instrumental in the formation of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. He earned the reputation of being the “Deng Xiao Ping” of the party for innovative thinking. Lyukanov won election to the State Duma in 1993, 1995, and 1999. He left public service in 2003.