The former leader of the party in the Soviet Union and Russia has died, aged 80, Russian state media reported.
Ruslan Khasbulatov was the last leader of the Supreme Soviet of Russia between 1991 and 1993, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The position corresponds to the Speaker of the Parliament.
Until the fall of the Soviet Union, the Supreme Soviet of Russia corresponded to the supreme governmental institution of the Soviet Republic of Russia.
After the fall of the Union, it became a parliament, later divided into the Russian Federation Council and the Duma, with less centralized powers.
Khasbulatov was one of then-President Boris Yeltsin’s main rivals and the dissolution of the last Russian Soviet in 1993 was very dramatic.
According to Radio Liberty, Khasbulatov and Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoi barricaded themselves inside the parliament building in the Kremlin, which led to Yeltsin ordering police to surround the building, cutting off electricity and water.
He then ordered the military to storm the building.
Khasbulatov and several other opposition figures were arrested during the October 4 assault, but were pardoned by the Duma in 1994.
His political career ended with his closure in 1993, but Khasbulatov was a visible figure in Russian media in the years since.
