Oorzhak, Sherig-Ool Dizizhikovich

(1942– )

   Politician. Born in the village of Shekpeer in the Tuvinian People’s Republic, Oorzhak studied agriculture in Moscow and became active in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, ultimately rising to the highest position in the Tuvan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR). During the early 1990s, he pursued a more accommodating line toward Moscow compared to his nationalist rivals in the “Free Tuva” movement. Despite this, he stressed a desire to reverse the half-century of forced Europeanization of his nation, and took the oath of office clad in traditional garb and wearing a Tuvan knife. As president of Tuva from 1992 to 2002 and prime minister from 2002 to 2007, he pursued a pro-Russian policy that effectively weakened the local drive for secession from the Russian Federation. He oversaw amendments to the republican constitution that contravened the federal constitution, as well as the negation of the clause that stipulated Tuva’s right to secede from Russia. Oorzhak remained on good terms with Boris Yeltsin during the 1990s and was able to preserve his office under Vladimir Putin’s first administration. However, in 2007, he was forced to step down amid allegations of corruption. More importantly, Oorzhak, who had promised to deliver 80 percent of his republic’s voters for United Russia, had failed to produce a majority for the party in the 2006 parliamentary elections. His inability to command local elites proved intolerable to Moscow; Putin dismissed Oorzhak in 2007 and replaced him with Sholban Kara-ool. After losing the governorship, Oorzhak was rewarded with a position in the office of the chief of the presidential staff, Sergey Sobyanin, alongside a number of other loyal former governors.