Anatoly Kulikov

Anatoly Sergeyevich Kulikov (; born 4 September 1946) is a Russian General of the Army and former Interior Minister of Russia (1995–1998).

In 1992 Kulikov became Commander of the Interior Troops. Consequently he was one of the commanders of pro-government forces during the 1993 Constitutional Crisis in Moscow and the First Chechen War. In early 1995 Kulikov was appointed commander of the Joint Group of Federal Forces in Chechnya and he commanded the Russian forces during the infamous Samashki massacre.

On July 6, 1995, after the Budyonnovsk hostage crisis, he succeeded Viktor Yerin as Interior Minister of Russia. In August 1996 Alexander Lebed, who had just been appointed Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, blamed Kulikov for the disastrous Battle of Grozny and requested that President Boris Yeltsin fire Kulikov. However, Yeltsin declined his request and in October fired Lebed from his position.

In 1997, Kulikov linked both the Cherney brothers and Reuben brothers to the Izmaylovskaya mafia which was led by Anton Malevsky in Israel, but, in March 1998, Boris Yeltsin removed Kulikov from his post along with the entire second cabinet of Viktor Chernomyrdin.

While most of the ministers of the old cabinet were reappointed to Sergei Kiriyenko's Cabinet, Kulikov was not and Sergei Stepashin became the next interior minister. Afterwards, Kulikov was elected to the State Duma twice, in the 1999 election and 2003 election, and was a member of the pro-government United Russia faction. Provided by Wikipedia