Albert Makashov

Colonel General Albert Mikhailovich Makashov (Russian: Альберт Михайлович Макашóв; born 12 June 1938) is a Russian officer and a nationalist-communist politician.

Makashov was born in Levaya Rossosh, Voronezh Oblast. He graduated from the Tashkent Higher Combined Arms Command School, finished the Frunze Military Academy (with the gold medal), and the General Staff Academy (with the gold medal) during the 1960s. He became major general of the Red Army in 1979, serving in the Caucasus region.

In 1989, Makashov was elected to the Supreme Soviet. He ran in the 1991 presidential election as an "independent nationalist", obtaining 3.74%. He then supported the Soviet coup d'état attempt that took place later in the same year. During October crisis of 1993 he was in charge of the defense of the White House. He organized a people army which, on 3 October, stormed the police cordons, seized the Moscow Mayor's office and attempted to seize the Ostankino Tower.

After the rebellion was suppressed, Makashov and a number of other opposition figures were arrested. After the imprisonment and amnesty in 1994, he was elected a deputy to the State Duma as a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (since 1995).

Jewish associations and a number of commentators have accused Makashov of being antisemitic. According to a report produced by the Anti-Defamation League and the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, Makashov "has become infamous worldwide for his anti-Semitic outbursts blaming Jews for the country's economic problems, and advocating the establishment of a quota on the number of Jews allowed in Russia." The Jewish Week stated that Makashov "has long revelled in unabashed anti-Jewish rhetoric".

Makashov was accused of appearing on TV to "advocate the extinction of the 'Zhids', and he promised to take at least 10 Zhids with him into the next world." According to Alexander Saley, a communist deputy from Tatarstan and ally of Makashov, "He was misquoted. [He] was quite specific in addressing specific people but the media put it in a more general way. Among Makashov's closest friends are quite a few Jews." After the general's call for expulsion of all Jews at a public meeting in 1999, there were attempts to prosecute him for hate speech; the newspaper Kommersant ran an article about him named "Makashov — Zoological Antisemite". David Duke, who visited Moscow in 1999, met Makashov and expressed his support for the General.

Makashov was among the signatories of the "Letter of 500", which was described as "an appeal to the prosecutor general urging him to review the activity of all Jewish organizations in Russia due to their alleged extremism" against non-Jews. The open letter was published in January 2005 in Rus Pravoslavnaya, a Russian Orthodox newspaper. Amongst the 500 signatures, Makashov was among 19 members of the State Duma (five from the Communist Party, and 14 from the Rodina Party). Makashov defended the letter in an appearance on a televised debate show hosted by Vladimir Solovyov on 3 February 2005; 53 percent of the more than 100,000 viewers who called the station maintained that Makashov got the better of his debate opponent— Aleksei Leonov— who denounced Makashov for ethnic incitement.