Viktor Popkov
Encyclopedia
Viktor Alekseyevich Popkov Виктор Алексеевич Попков (June 17, 1946 - June 2, 2001) was a Russia
n dissident
, humanitarian
, human rights
activist and journalist
. He spent the last 15 years of his life in the hot spots of the falling Soviet Union
, including the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, the Nagorno-Karabakh War
and the war in Chechnya
. A deeply religious Old Believer
and pacifist
, Popkov taught non-violence.
at a Moscow
institute, left without graduating and became a journalist and a seismologist in Kamchatka. In 1979 he married Tatyana Lebedeva.
In 1992 Popkov founded and since then led the interdenominational group Omega set up to promote dialogue between religious denomination
s. He also joined the Memorial Human Rights Center
, a leading Russian human rights group, and worked as a freelance journalist for the oppositionist newspaper Novaya Gazeta
.
In 1992-1993 Popkov led a futile peace march in Abkhazia
, delivered food to the starving town of Tkvarcheli
, besieged by the Georgian
forces, and saved many people from summary execution
after the fall of Sukhum. Working in Chechnya since 1995, Popkov negotiated release of dozens of civilian
hostage
s and prisoners of war
(including even a Russian general), delivered humanitarian aid
to refugee
s, and documented atrocities. Frequent visitor to Grozny
during the fighting, helped to release some of the Russian POWs held in the Presidential Palace in Grozny
just before the Russian bombing in 1995 and filmed the aftermath of the Novye Aldi massacre
in 2000.
In 1999 he conducted a 40-day hunger strike
in protest at the renewed war in Chechnya. Afterwards, he became involved in attempts to restore contacts between Chechen Republic President Aslan Maskhadov
and the Russian federal authorities. During the Second Chechen War
, Popkov often was arbitrarily detained by the security forces and his humanitarian activities were severely hindered by the Russian military. He was also frequently detained and threatened by some of the Chechen field commanders.
was ambushed in the vicinity of a federal roadblock by the masked gunmen in a Lada
car who opened fire from an automatic weapon and then drove away not pursued. The attackers were said to be Chechen Islamic fundamentalists
in conjunction
with the Russian forces. In 2002 Memorial pinpointed them to be members of an armed group led by the notorious warlord Arbi Barayev
.
Popkov's condition had been irreversibly aggravated when the troops at the checkpoint
held him and his wounded companions (his driver and a Chechen doctor Rosa Muzarova also suffered serious injuries in the attack), all heavily bleeding, for about one hour (or even three hours) following the shooting. By the time the wounded were taken to Hospital No. 9 in Grozny, their condition
was critical and Popkov was already in coma
.
Viktor Popkov died in a military hospital in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast
, without regaining consciousness. He left seriously ill widow Tatyana and a disabled daughter Ulyana.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
, humanitarian
Humanitarianism
In its most general form, humanitarianism is an ethic of kindness, benevolence and sympathy extended universally and impartially to all human beings. Humanitarianism has been an evolving concept historically but universality is a common element in its evolution...
, human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activist and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. He spent the last 15 years of his life in the hot spots of the falling Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, including the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, the Nagorno-Karabakh War
Nagorno-Karabakh War
The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan...
and the war in Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
. A deeply religious Old Believer
Old Believers
In the context of Russian Orthodox church history, the Old Believers separated after 1666 from the official Russian Orthodox Church as a protest against church reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon between 1652–66...
and pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
, Popkov taught non-violence.
Life and activism
Popkov studied physicsPhysics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
at a Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
institute, left without graduating and became a journalist and a seismologist in Kamchatka. In 1979 he married Tatyana Lebedeva.
In 1992 Popkov founded and since then led the interdenominational group Omega set up to promote dialogue between religious denomination
Religious denomination
A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name, tradition, and identity.The term describes various Christian denominations...
s. He also joined the Memorial Human Rights Center
Memorial (society)
Memorial is an international historical and civil rights society that operates in a number of post-Soviet states. It focuses on recording and publicising the Soviet Union's totalitarian past, but also monitors human rights in post-Soviet states....
, a leading Russian human rights group, and worked as a freelance journalist for the oppositionist newspaper Novaya Gazeta
Novaya Gazeta
Novaya Gazeta is a Russian newspaper well known in the country for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs....
.
In 1992-1993 Popkov led a futile peace march in Abkhazia
Abkhazia
Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...
, delivered food to the starving town of Tkvarcheli
Tkvarcheli
Tkvarcheli is a town in Abkhazia. It is situated on the river Ghalidzga and the railroad connects it with Ochamchira.-History:...
, besieged by the Georgian
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
forces, and saved many people from summary execution
Summary execution
A summary execution is a variety of execution in which a person is killed on the spot without trial or after a show trial. Summary executions have been practiced by the police, military, and paramilitary organizations and are associated with guerrilla warfare, counter-insurgency, terrorism, and...
after the fall of Sukhum. Working in Chechnya since 1995, Popkov negotiated release of dozens of civilian
Civilian
A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...
hostage
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
s and prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
(including even a Russian general), delivered humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises including natural disaster and man-made disaster. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity...
to refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s, and documented atrocities. Frequent visitor to Grozny
Grozny
Grozny is the capital city of the Chechen Republic, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 271,596; up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Census. but still only about two-thirds of 399,688 recorded in the 1989...
during the fighting, helped to release some of the Russian POWs held in the Presidential Palace in Grozny
Presidential Palace, Grozny
The presidential palace in Grozny was the building in Grozny, capital of Chechnya, which became a world-famous symbol during the early conflict in Chechnya, in which it became the key terrain symbolizing victory. The building was ruined by repeated artillery and air strikes...
just before the Russian bombing in 1995 and filmed the aftermath of the Novye Aldi massacre
Novye Aldi massacre
The Novye Aldi massacre was a notorious crime in which Russian federal forces summarily executed dozens of people in the Novye Aldi suburb of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, in the course of a "mopping-up" operation conducted there on February 5, 2000, soon after the end of the battle for the city...
in 2000.
In 1999 he conducted a 40-day hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
in protest at the renewed war in Chechnya. Afterwards, he became involved in attempts to restore contacts between Chechen Republic President Aslan Maskhadov
Aslan Maskhadov
Aslan Aliyevich Maskhadov was a leader of the Chechen separatist movement and the third President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.He was credited by many with the Chechen victory in the First Chechen War, which allowed for the...
and the Russian federal authorities. During the Second Chechen War
Second Chechen War
The Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the War in the North Caucasus, was launched by the Russian Federation starting 26 August 1999, in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade ....
, Popkov often was arbitrarily detained by the security forces and his humanitarian activities were severely hindered by the Russian military. He was also frequently detained and threatened by some of the Chechen field commanders.
Death
On April 18, 2001, Popkov was fatally shot near the embattled village of Alkhan-Kala while delivering medical supplies to civilians in Chechnya. His ambulanceAmbulance
An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
was ambushed in the vicinity of a federal roadblock by the masked gunmen in a Lada
Lada
Lada is a trademark of AvtoVAZ, a Russian car manufacturer in Tolyatti, Samara Oblast. All AvtoVAZ vehicles are currently sold under the Lada brand, though this was not always so; Lada was originally AvtoVAZ's export brand for models it sold under the Zhiguli name in the domestic Soviet market...
car who opened fire from an automatic weapon and then drove away not pursued. The attackers were said to be Chechen Islamic fundamentalists
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...
in conjunction
Conjunction
Conjunction can refer to:* Conjunction , an astronomical phenomenon* Astrological aspect, an aspect in horoscopic astrology* Conjunction , a part of speech** Conjunctive mood , same as subjunctive mood...
with the Russian forces. In 2002 Memorial pinpointed them to be members of an armed group led by the notorious warlord Arbi Barayev
Arbi Barayev
Arbi Alautdinovich Barayev , nicknamed "The Terminator", was a renegade Chechen warlord often accused of clandestine links with the Russian special services...
.
Popkov's condition had been irreversibly aggravated when the troops at the checkpoint
Civilian checkpoint
Civilian checkpoints or Security checkpoints are distinguishable from border or frontier checkpoints in that they are erected and enforced within contiguous areas under military or paramilitary control...
held him and his wounded companions (his driver and a Chechen doctor Rosa Muzarova also suffered serious injuries in the attack), all heavily bleeding, for about one hour (or even three hours) following the shooting. By the time the wounded were taken to Hospital No. 9 in Grozny, their condition
Medical state
Medical states or medical conditions are used to describe a patient's condition in a hospital. These terms are most commonly used by the news media and are rarely used by doctors, who in their daily business prefer to deal with medical problems in greater detail.Either or both of two aspects of...
was critical and Popkov was already in coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
.
Viktor Popkov died in a military hospital in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast
Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast
Krasnogorsk is a city and the administrative center of Krasnogorsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, adjacent to the northwestern boundary of Moscow, on the Moskva River...
, without regaining consciousness. He left seriously ill widow Tatyana and a disabled daughter Ulyana.
External links
- Soviet Abkhazia 1989: Facts and Thoughts by Viktor Popkov
- Appeal to the journalists and public figures who recognize the need to stop the war in Chechnya and to start political peace negotiations
- Viktor Popkov 1952-2001 Russian human rights campaigner, peacemaker and negotiator in Chechnya Religious Society of FriendsReligious Society of FriendsThe Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
- Human rights activist shot in Chechnya, BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, 21 April, 2001 - Rights worker shot in Chechnya, CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, April 21, 2001 - Face to faith. The peacemakers of the Caucasus must never give up, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, October 7 2006 Viktor Popkov's website Internet library with Popkov's publications Another site about Popkov Russia after the elections, interview with Vanessa RedgraveVanessa RedgraveVanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
, Radio Liberty 2000 Who shot Viktor Popkov?, Novaya GazetaNovaya GazetaNovaya Gazeta is a Russian newspaper well known in the country for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs....
2001