Quick Facts
Biography
Viktor Pavlovich Barannikov (born October 20, 1940, Fedosevka village, Pozharsky District, Primorsky Krai, Soviet Union ~ died July 21, 1995, Moscow, Russia), was the Soviet Interior Minister in 1991 and Russia Minister from 1992 to 1993.
He was the interior minister of Russia from September 1990 to August 1991, the interior minister of the USSR after the August Coup against Gorbachev from August 1991 to January 1992. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he became the Minister of Security and Home Affairs of the Russian Federation (December 1991 - January 1992).
Barannikov initiated the transfer of power under the responsibility of the Interior Ministry to individual republics and ordered the militia to stay away from the political chaos engulfing the capital. He was dismissed by the President at the end of July 1993. As an excuse, an incident involving the Border Guard forces on the Soviet-Afghan border and the wasteful lifestyle of his wife Ludmila, which cost taxpayers around $ 100,000, was used. During the Russian Constitutional Crisis in September-October 1993, he tried to mediate between Boris Yeltsin and Duma, who wanted to drag him to her side by nominating him as the Minister of Security. He was arrested and imprisoned for several months, soon after his release he died of a heart attack on July 22, 1995.
