Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика
← 1917–1993 →
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem "The Internationale" (1918–1923) National Anthem of the Soviet Union (1944–1990) "Patrioticheskaya Pesnya" (1990–1993[1])
Capital	Petrograd (1917–1918) Moscow (since March 1918)[2]
Government	Federal democratic Soviet socialist republic
Head of state
- 1917	Lev Kamenev (Chairman of the VTsIK)
- 1991	Boris Yeltsin (President)
Legislature	VTsIK and All-Russian Congress of Soviets (1917—1938) Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR (1938—1990) Supreme Soviet and Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian SFSR (Federation) (1990—1993)
History
- Established	1917
- Disestablished	1993
On 19 January 1918, there was a brief existence of the Russian Democratic Federative Republic, but actual sovereignty was still in the hands of the Soviets even after the Russian Constituent Assembly opened its first and the last session.[3]

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian: Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика,^[4] Translit.: Rossiyskaya Sovetskaya Federativnaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika), commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, the Russian Federation, or simply Russia,^[5][6] was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union.^[7]

The Soviet regime, governed by the Bolsheviks, first came to power on 7 November [O.S. 25 October] 1917—immediately after the Russian Provisional Government, which governed the Russian Republic, was overthrown in the October Revolution. Initially, the state did not have an official name and wouldn't be recognized by neighboring countries for five months.

On 25 January 1918—at the third meeting of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets—the unrecognized state was renamed the Soviet Russian Republic.^[8] On 3 March 1918 the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, giving away much of the land of the former Russian Empire to Germany, in exchange for peace in World War I. On 10 July 1918 the Russian Constitution of 1918 renamed the country the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.^[9] By 1918, during the Russian Civil War, several states within the former Russian Empire seceded, reducing the size of the country even more.

The RSFSR was recognized as an independent state internationally by only Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Lithuania, in the Treaty of Tartu in 1920 and by the Irish Republic in 1920.^[10]

On 30 December 1922, with the creation of the Soviet Union, Russia became one of six republics within the federation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic—the final name of the Soviet era for the republic—was adopted in the Soviet Constitution of 1936.

On 25 December 1991—following the collapse of the Soviet Union—it was renamed the Russian Federation, which it remains to this day.^[11] This name was, on equal rights with "Russia", specified as the official state name in the 1993 Constitution of Russia.

The Republic comprised 16 autonomous republics, five autonomous oblasts, 10 autonomous okrugs, six krais, and 40 oblasts.^[7] Russians formed the largest ethnic group.

The RSFSR economy was heavily industrialized. The RSFSR accounted for about two-thirds of the electricity production in the USSR. It was the third largest producer of petroleum, trailing only the United States and Saudi Arabia.

In 1974 there were 475 institutes of higher education in the republic providing education in 47 languages to some 23,941,000 students. Health care was provided through a network of territorially organized public health services.^[7]

Geography[link]

The international borders of the RSFSR touched Poland on the west; Norway and Finland on the northwest; and to its southeast were the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Mongolian People's Republic, and the People's Republic of China. Within the Soviet Union, the RSFSR bordered the Ukrainian, Belarusian, Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian SSRs to its west and Azerbaijan, Georgian and Kazakh SSRs to the south.^[7]

Roughly 70% of the area in the RSFSR consisted of broad plains, with mountainous regions mainly concentrated in the east. The area is rich in mineral resources, including petroleum, natural gas, and iron ore.^[12]

History[link]

History of Russia
This article is part of a series
Volga Bulgaria (7th–13th)
Khazar Khaganate (7th–10th)
Rus' Khaganate (8th–9th)
Kievan Rus' (9th–12th)
Vladimir-Suzdal (12th–14th)
Novgorod Republic (12th–15th)
Mongol invasion (1220s–1240s)
Tatar Yoke (13th–15th)
Grand Duchy of Moscow (1340–1547)
Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721)
Russian Empire (1721–1917)
Russian Republic (1917)
Russian SFSR / Soviet Union (1917–1991)
Russian Federation (1992–present)
Timeline
Russia Portal v t e

Early years (1917–20)[link]

The Soviet regime first came to power on 7 November 1917—immediately after the Russian Provisional Government, which governed the Russian Republic, was overthrown in the October Revolution—although the state it governed—which did not have an official name— would be unrecognized by neighboring countries for another five months.

On 25 January 1918—at the third meeting of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets—the unrecognized state was renamed the Soviet Russian Republic.^[8] On 3 March 1918 the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, giving away much of the land of the former Russian Empire to Germany, in exchange for peace in World War I. On 10 July 1918 the Russian Constitution of 1918 renamed the country the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.^[9] By 1918, during the Russian Civil War, several states within the former Russian Empire seceded, reducing the size of the country even more.

The RSFSR was recognized as an independent state internationally by only Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Lithuania, in the Treaty of Tartu in 1920.

1920s[link]

On 30 December 1922, the First Congress of the Soviets of the USSR approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR, by which Russia was united with the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, and Transcaucasian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic into a single federal state, the Soviet Union. Later treaty was included in the 1924 Soviet Constitution,^{[clarification needed]} adopted on 31 January 1924 by the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR.

The third article of the 1925 Constitution of the RSFSR states the following:^[13]

According to a quotation will of the peoples of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, have decided to Tenth All-Russian Congress of Soviets on the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the transmit powers of the Union, classified in accordance with Article 1 of the Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the purview of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

1930s[link]

Many regions in Russia were affected by the Soviet famine of 1932–1933: Volga, Central Black Soil Region, North Caucasus, the Urals, the Crimea, part of Western Siberia, and the Kazakh ASSR.

With the adoption of the 1936 Soviet Constitution on 5 December 1936, the size of the RSFSR was significantly reduced. The Kazakh ASSR and Kirghiz ASSR were transformed into the Kazakh and Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republics. The Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was transferred to the Uzbek SSR.

The final name for the republic during the Soviet era was adopted by the Russian Constitution of 1937, which renamed it the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

1940s[link]

On 17 April 1946, the Kaliningrad Oblast—the northern portion of the former German province of East Prussia—was annexed by the Soviet Union and made part of the Russian SFSR.

1950s[link]

Nikita Khrushchev transferred Crimea from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954.

The Karelo-Finnish SSR was transferred back to the RSFSR as the Karelian ASSR in 1956.

Early 1990s[link]

Flag adopted by the Russian SFSR national parliament in 1991

On 29 May 1990, on his third attempt, Boris Yeltsin was elected the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR.

On 12 June 1990, the Congress of People's Deputies of the Republic adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian SFSR, which was the beginning of the "War of Laws", pitting the Soviet Union against the Russian Federation and other constituent republics.

On 17 March 1991, an all-Russian referendum created the post of President of the RSFSR. On 12 June, Boris Yeltsin was elected President of Russia by popular vote.

During an unsuccessful coup attempt on 19–21 August 1991 in Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union and Russia, President of Russia Yeltsin strongly supported the President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev.

On 23 August, after the failure of GKChP, in the presence of Gorbachev, Yeltsin signed a decree suspending all activity by the Communist Party of the Russian SFSR in the territory of Russia.^[14] On 6 November, he went further, banning the Communist Parties of the USSR and the RSFSR from the territory of the RSFSR.^[15]

On 8 December 1991 at Viskuli near Brest (Belarus), the President of the Russian SFSR and the heads of Byelorussian SSR and Ukrainian SSR signed the "Agreement on the Establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States" (known in media as Belavezha Accords). The document, consisting of a preamble and fourteen articles, stated that the Soviet Union ceased to exist as a subject of international law and geopolitical realitiy. However, based on the historical community of peoples, relations between them, given the bilateral treaties, the desire for a democratic rule of law, the intention to develop their relations based on mutual recognition and respect for state sovereignty, the parties agreed to the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. On 12 December, the agreement was ratified by the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR by an overwhelming majority: 188 votes for, 6 against, 7 abstentions. On the same day, the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR denounced the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and recalled all Russian deputies from the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. The legality of this act is the subject of discussions because, according to the 1978 Constitution (Basic Law) of the Russian SFSR, the Supreme Soviet Russian SFSR had no right to do so.^[16]

1992 coat of arms, featuring the new name "Russian Federation."

On 24 December the President of the Russian Federation informed the Secretary-General of the United Nations that the Russian Federation would assume the membership of the Soviet Union in all UN organs (including membership in the UN Security Council). Thus, Russia is considered to be an original member of the UN (since 24 October 1945) along with Ukraine (Ukrainian SSR) and Belarus (Byelorussian SSR).

On 25 December the Russian SFSR was renamed the Russian Federation (Russia), and remains so to this day.^[5] The change was originally published on 6 January 1992 (Rossiyskaya Gazeta). According to law, during 1992, it was allowed to use the old name of the RSFSR for official business (forms, seals and stamps).

The Russian Federation's Constitution (Fundamental Law) of 1978, though with the 1991–1992 Amendements, remained in effect until the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis.

The name "Russian Federation" has been also used in Soviet times.^[17]

Government[link]

This section requires expansion.

Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics (ASSRs) within the Russian SFSR[link]

• Turkestan ASSR – Formed on 30 April 1918, on the territory of the former Turkestan General-Governorate. As part of the delimitation programme of Soviet Central Asia, the Turkestan ASSR along with the Khorezm SSR and the Bukharan PSR were disbanded on 27 October 1924, and in their place came the Union republics of Turkmen SSR and Uzbek SSR. The latter contained the Tajik ASSR until December 1929 when it too became a full Union republic, the Tajik SSR. The RSFSR retained the newly formed Kara-Kirghiz and the Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Oblasts. The latter was part of the Kirgiz, then the Kazak ASSR until 1930, when it was directly subordinated to Moscow.
• Bashkir ASSR – Formed on 23 March 1919 from several northern districts of the Orenburg Guberniya populated by Bashkirs. 11 October 1990 declares its sovereignty, as Bashkir SSR, which is renamed in 1992 as the Republic of Bashkortostan.
• Tatar ASSR – Formed on 27 May 1920 on the territory of the western two thirds of the Kazan Governorate populated by Tatars. On 30 October 1990, declared sovereignty as the Republic of Tatarstan and on 18 October 1991 – independence. The Russian constitutional court overturned the declaration on 13 March 1992. On February 1994 a separate agreement was reached with Moscow on the status of Tatarstan as an associate state in Russia with confederate status.
• Kirgiz ASSR Formed on 26 August 1920, from the Ural, Turgay, Semipalatinsk Oblasts, and parts of Transcaspia, Bukey Horde and Orenburg Guberniya populated by Kirgiz-Kaysaks (former name of Kazakh people). Further enlarged in 1921 upon gaining land from Omsk Guberniya and again in 1924 from parts of Jetysui Guberniya and Syr Darya and Samarkand Oblasts. On 19 April 1925 renamed as the Kazak ASSR (see below)
• Mountain ASSR Formed on 20 January 1921, after the Bolshevik Red Army evicted the short-lived Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus. Initially composed of several national districts, one-by-one these left the republic until 7 November 1924, when the remains of the republic was partitioned into the Ingush Autonomous Oblast, the North Ossetian Autonomous Oblast and the Sunzha Cossack district (all subordinates to the North Caucasus Kray).
• Dagestan ASSR – Formed on 20 January 1921, from the former Dagestan Oblast. On 17 September 1991, declares sovereignty as the Dagestan SSR and from 17 December 1991 the Republic of Dagestan.
• Crimean ASSR Formed on 18 October 1921, on the territory of Crimean peninsula, following the Red Army's eviction of Baron Wrangel's army, ending the Russian Civil War in Europe. On 18 May 1944 disbanded following the deportation of the Crimean Tatars, and transformed into the Crimean Oblast. On 19 February 1954, transferred to the Ukrainian SSR. Re-established on 12 February 1991, and on 4 September of that year declared sovereignty. On 5 May 1992 – declared independence as the Republic of Crimea, on 13 May the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine overturned the declaration, but compromised on an Autonomous Republic of Crimea, which exists to this day.
• Yakut ASSR – Formed on 16 February 1922 upon the elevation of the Yakut Autonomous Oblast into an ASSR. On 27 September 1990, declared sovereignty as the Yakut-Sakha Soviet Socialist Republic. From 21 December 1991 – the Republic of Sakha (Yakutiya).
• Buryat ASSR – Formed on 30 March 1923 as due to merger of the Mongol-Buryat Autonomous Oblast of the RSFSR and the Buryat-Mongol Autonomous Oblast of the Far Eastern Republic. Until 7 July 1958 – Mongol-Buryat ASSR. 27 March 1991 – Republic of Buryatia.
• Karelian ASSR – Formed on 23 July 1923 when the Karelian Labour Commune was integrated into the RSFSR administrative structure. On 31 March 1940, elevated into a full Union republic as the Karelo-Finnish SSR. On 16 July 1956, downgraded back into an ASSR, and re-subordinated to RSFSR. Declared sovereignty on 13 October 1991, as the Republic of Karelia.
• Volga German ASSR – Formed on 19 December 1924, upon elevation of the Volga German Autonomous Oblast into an ASSR. On 28 August 1941, upon the deportation of Volga Germans to Kazakhstan, the ASSR was disbanded. The territory was partitioned between the Saratov and Stalingrad Oblasts.
• Kazak ASSR Formed on 19 April 1925, when the first Kirgiz ASSR was renamed and partitioned. Upon the ratification of the new Soviet constitution, the ASSR was elevated into a full Union Republic on 3 December 1936. On 25 October 1990 declares sovereignty and on 16 December 1991 – independence as the Republic of Kazakhstan.
• Chuvash ASSR – Formed on 21 April 1925 upon the elevation of the Chuvash Autonomous Olbast into an ASSR. Declared sovereignty on 26 October 1990 as the Chuvash SSR. From 13 February 1992 – Chuvash Republic.
• Kirghiz ASSR Formed on 1 February 1926, upon elevation of the Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast. Upon the ratification of the new Soviet constitution, the ASSR was elevated into a full Union Republic on 3 December 1936. On 12 December 1990 declares sovereignty as the Republic of Kyrgyztan and on 31 August 1991 independence.
• Kara-Kalpak ASSR – Formed on 20 March 1932, upon elevation of the Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Oblast into the Kara-Kalpak ASSR, from 5 December 1936, part of the Uzbek SSR. In 1964 renamed as the Karakalpak ASSR. Declared sovereignty on 14 December 1990, and from 9 January 1992 as the Republic of Karakalpakstan.
• Mordovian ASSR – Formed on 20 December 1934 upon the elevation of the Mordovian Autonomous Oblast into an ASSR. Declared sovereignty on 13 December 1990 as the Mordovian SSR. From 25 January 1991 – Republic of Mordovia.
• Udmurt ASSR – Formed on 28 December 1934 upon the elevation of the Udmurt Autonomous Oblast into an ASSR. Declared sovereignty on 20 September 1990. From 11 October 1991 – Udmurt Republic.
• Kalmyk ASSR – Formed on 20 October 1935, upon the elevation of the Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast into an ASSR. On 27 December 1943, upon the deporation of the Kalmyks the ASSR was disbanded and split between the newly established Astrakhan Oblast and parts adjoined to the Rostov Oblast, Krasnodar Kray and Stavropol Kray. On 9 January 1957, the Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast was re-established in present borders, first as part of Stavropol Kray and from 19 July 1958 – the Kalmyk ASSR. On 18 October 1990 declared sovereignty as the Kamlmyk SSR and from 20 October 1992, as the Republic of Kalmykiya.
• Kabardino-Balkar ASSR – Formed on 5 December 1936, upon the departure of the Kabardino-Balkar Autonomous Oblast from the North Caucasus Kray. After the deportation of the Balkars on 8 April 1944, the republic is renamed as Kabardin ASSR and parts of its territory transferred to Georgian SSR, upon the return of the Balkars, the KBASSR is re-instated on 9 January 1957. On 31 January 1991, the republic declares sovereignty as the Kabardino-Balkar SSR, and from 10 March 1992 – Kabardino-Balkarian Republic.
• Northern Ossetian ASSR – Formed on 5 December 1936, upon the disbandment of the North Caucasus Kray, and its constituent North Ossetian Autonomous Oblast was raised into an ASSR. Declared sovereignty on 26 December 1990 as the North Ossetian SSR. From 9 November 1993 – Republic of North Ossetia, from 10 November 1994 – Republic of North Ossetia–Alania.
• Chechen-Ingush ASSR – Formed on 5 December 1936, when the North Caucausus Kray was disestablished and its constituent Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Oblast was elevated into an ASSR and subordinated to Mosocow. Following the en masse deportation of the Chechens and Ingush, on 7 March 1944, the ChIASSR was disbanded, and the Grozny Okrug was temporarily administered by Stavropol Kray until the 22 March, when the territory was portioned between North Ossetian and Dagestan ASSRs, and the Georgian SSR. The remaining land was merged with Stavropol Krays Kizlyar district and organised as Grozny Oblast, which existed until 9 January 1957, when the ChIASSR was re-established, though only the southern border's original shape was retained. Declared sovereignty on 27 November 1990 as the Chechen-Ingush Republic. On 8 June 1991, the 2nd Chechen National Congress proclaimed a separate Chechen-Republic (Noxchi-Cho), and on 6 September, began a coup which overthrew the Soviet local government. De facto, all authority passed to the self-proclaimed government which was renamed as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in early 1993. In response, the western Ingush districts after a referendum on 28 November 1991, were organised into an Ingush Republic which was officially established on 4 June 1992, by decree of Russian President as the Republic of Ingushetia. The same decree de jure created a Chechen republic, although it would be established only on 3 June 1994 and carry out partial governance during the First Chechen War. The Khasavyurt Accord would again suspend the government on 15 November 1996. The present Chechen Republic government was re-established on 15 October 1999.
• Komi ASSR – Formed on 5 December 1936 upon the elevation of the Komi (Zyryan) Autonomous Oblast into an ASSR. Declared sovereignty on 23 November 1990 as the Komi SSR. From 26 May 1992 – the Republic of Komi.
• Mari ASSR – Formed on 5 December 1936 upon the elevation of the Mari Autonomous Oblast into an ASSR. Declared Sovereignty on 22 December 1990 as the Mari Soviet Socialist Republic (Mari El). From 8 July 1992 – the Mari El Republic.
• Tuva ASSR – Formed on 10 October 1961 when the Tuva Autonomous Oblast was elevated into an ASSR. On 12 December 1990 declared sovereignty as the Soviet Republic of Tyva. From 20 November 1993 – Republic of Tyva.
• Gorno Altay ASSR – Formed on 25 October 1990, when the Gorno Altay Autonomous Oblast declared sovereignty, from 3 July 1991 – Gorno Altay SSR, from May 1992 Gorno Altay Republic, and from 12 December 1993 Republic of Altay.
• Karachayevo-Cherkessian ASSR – Formed on 17 November 1990, when the Karachayevo-Cherkessian Autonomous Oblast was elevated into an ASSR and, instead of Stavropol Kray, subordinated directly to Moscow. Declared sovereignty on 3 July 1991 as the Karachayevo-Cherkessian SSR. From January 1993 – Karachayevo-Cherkessian Republic.

References[link]

External links[link]

• (Russian) Full Texts and All Laws Amending Constitutions of the Russian SFSR
• Russian Federation; The Whole Republic a Construction Site by D.S. Polyanski
• (English) Full 1918 RSFSR Constitution

v t e Republics of the Soviet Union Soviet Union Principal Armenian SSR Azerbaijan SSR Byelorussian SSR Estonian SSR Georgian SSR Kazakh SSR Kirghiz SSR Latvian SSR Lithuanian SSR Moldavian SSR Russian SFSR Tajik SSR Turkmen SSR Ukrainian SSR Uzbek SSR Short-lived Karelo-Finnish SSR Transcaucasian SFSR

v t e Russia topics History Timeline Proto-Indo-Europeans Scythians East Slavs Rus' Khaganate Kievan Rus' Novgorod Republic Vladimir-Suzdal Grand Duchy of Moscow Tsardom of Russia Russian Empire Russian SFSR Soviet Union Russian Federation Military history Postal history Geography Subdivisions Ural Mountains Siberia European Russia West Siberian Plain Caucasus Mountains Caspian Sea North Asia North Caucasus Cities and towns Islands Economic regions Rivers Volcanoes Climate Governance Constitution Government President Federal Assembly Law Foreign relations Constitutional Court Public Chamber State Council Judiciary Politics Elections Political parties Human rights Economy Agriculture Inventions Tourism Banking Central Bank Russian ruble Transport Telecommunications Corruption Demographics Russians Public holidays Languages Religion Crime 2002 Census 2010 Census Famous Russians Culture Architecture Literature Ballet Avant-garde Cinema Material culture Music (Opera) Language Cuisine Martial arts Folklore Internet Sports Symbols National flag Other flags Coat of arms National anthem Category Book Portal WikiProject

Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo (Ukrainian: Андрі́й Рома́нович Чикати́ло; 16 October 1936 – 14 February 1994) was a Soviet serial killer, nicknamed The Butcher of Rostov, The Red Ripper and The Rostov Ripper who committed the murder of a minimum of 52 women and children between between 1978 and 1990 in the Russian SFSR. Chikatilo confessed to a total of 56 murders and was tried for 53 of these killings in April, 1992. He was convicted and sentenced to death for 52 of these murders in October 1992 and subsequently executed in February 1994.

Chikatilo was known by such titles as The Rostov Ripper and The Butcher of Rostov because the majority of his murders were committed in the Rostov Oblast of the Russian SFSR.

Early life[link]

Childhood[link]

Andrei Chikatilo was born in the village of Yablochnoye (Yabluchne) in modern Sumy Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR. He was born soon after the famine in Ukraine caused by Joseph Stalin's forced collectivisation of agriculture.^[3] Ukrainian farmers were forced to hand in their entire crop for statewide distribution. Mass starvation ran rampant throughout Ukraine and reports of cannibalism soared. Chikatilo's mother, Anna, told him that his older brother Stepan had been kidnapped and cannibalized by starving neighbors, although it has never been independently established whether this actually happened.^[4]

Chikatilo's parents were both farm labourers who lived in a one-room hut.^[5] As a child, Chikatilo slept on a single bed with his parents. He was a chronic bed wetter^[6] and was berated and beaten by his mother for each offense. When the Soviet Union entered World War II, his father, Roman, was drafted into the Red Army and subsequently taken prisoner after being wounded in combat.^[7] During the war, Chikatilo witnessed some of the effects of Blitzkrieg, which both frightened and excited him. On one occasion, Chikatilo and his mother were forced to watch their hut burn to the ground.^[8] In 1943, while Chikatilo's father was away at the front, his mother gave birth to a baby girl, Tatyana. In 1949, Chikatilo's father, who had been liberated by the Americans, returned home. Instead of being rewarded for his war service, he was branded a traitor for surrendering to the Germans.^[9]

Shy and studious as a child, Chikatilo developed a passion for reading: by his teens he was an avid reader of Communist literature and was appointed chairman of the pupils' Communist committee at his school. Throughout his childhood and adolescence, he was consistently a target for bullying by his peers.^[10][11]

During adolescence, he discovered that he suffered from chronic impotence, worsening his social awkwardness and self-hatred.^[9] Chikatilo was shy in the company of females:^[12] his only sexual experience as a teenager was when he, aged 17, jumped on an 11-year-old friend of his younger sister and wrestled her to the ground, ejaculating as the girl struggled in his grasp.^[13]

In 1953, Chikatilo finished school and applied for a scholarship at the Moscow State University; although he passed the entrance examination, his grades were not good enough for acceptance.^[14] Between 1957 and 1960, Chikatilo performed his compulsory military service.^[15]

Marriage and teaching career[link]

In 1963, Chikatilo married a woman to whom he was introduced by his younger sister. The couple had a son and daughter. Chikatilo later claimed that his marital sex life was minimal and that, after his wife understood that he was unable to maintain an erection, he and his wife agreed that in order that she could conceive, he would ejaculate externally and push his semen inside her vagina with his fingers.^[16] In 1965, their daughter Lyudmila was born, followed by son Yuri in 1969.^[17] In 1971, Chikatilo completed a correspondence course in Russian literature and obtained his degree in the subject from Rostov University.^[18]

Chikatilo began his career as a teacher of Russian language and literature^[19] in Novoshakhtinsk. His career as a teacher ended in March 1981 ^[20] after several complaints of child molestation against pupils of both sexes. Chikatilo eventually took a job as a supply clerk for a factory.

First series of murders[link]

Murder of Yelena Zakotnova[link]

In September 1978, Chikatilo moved to Shakhty, a small coal mining town near Rostov-on-Don, where he committed his first documented murder. On 22 December, Chikatilo lured a 9-year-old girl named Yelena Zakotnova to an old house which he had secretly purchased; he attempted to rape her, but failed to achieve an erection. When the girl struggled, he choked her and stabbed her three times in the abdomen, ejaculating in the process of knifing the child. In an interview after his arrest, Chikatilo later recalled that after stabbing Yelena, the girl had "said something very hoarsely", whereupon he strangled her into unconsciousness before throwing her body into a nearby river.^[21] Her body was found two days later.

Numerous pieces of evidence linked Chikatilo to the murder of Yelena Zakotnova: Spots of blood had been found in the snow near the house Chikatilo had purchased; neighbours had noted that Chikatilo had been present in the house on the evening of 22 December; Zakotnova's school rucksack had been found upon the opposite bank of the river at the end of the street (indicating the girl had been thrown into the river at this location) and a witness had given police a detailed description of a man closely resembling Chikatilo whom she had seen talking with Zakotnova at the bus stop where the girl had last been seen alive.^[22] Despite these facts, a 25-year-old named Aleksandr Kravchenko, who as a teenager, had served a prison sentence for the rape and murder of a teenage girl, was arrested for the crime and subsequently confessed to the killing.^[23] He was tried for the murder in 1979. At his trial, Kravchenko retracted his confession and maintained his innocence, stating his confession had been obtained under extreme duress. Despite his retraction, he was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment (the maximum possible length of imprisonment at that time). Under pressure from the victim's relatives, Kravchenko was retried and eventually executed for the murder of Yelena Zakotnova in July, 1983. Following Zakotnova's murder, Chikatilo was able to achieve sexual arousal and orgasm only through stabbing and slashing women and children to death, and he later claimed that the urge to relive the experience had overwhelmed him.^[24]

Second murder and subsequent killings[link]

Chikatilo committed his next murder in September 1981, when he tried to have sex with a 17-year-old boarding school student named Larisa Tkachenko in a forest near the Don River. When Chikatilo failed to achieve an erection, he became furious and battered and strangled her to death.^[25] As he had no knife, he mutilated her body with his teeth and a stick.^[26] On 12 June 1982, Chikatilo encountered a 13-year-old girl named Lyubov Biryuk walking home from a shopping trip in the village of Donskoi.^[27] Once the path both were taking together was shielded from the view of potential witnesses by bushes, Chikatilo pounced upon Biryuk, dragged her into nearby undergrowth, tore off her dress and killed her by stabbing and slashing her to death.^[28]

Following Biryuk's murder, Chikatilo no longer attempted to resist his homicidal urges: between July and September of 1982, he killed a further five victims between the ages of nine and nineteen. He established a pattern of approaching children, runaways and young vagrants at bus or railway stations, enticing them to a nearby forest or other secluded area and killing them, usually by stabbing, slashing and eviscerating the victim with a knife; although some victims, in addition to receiving a multitude of knife wounds, were also strangled or battered to death.^[29] Many of the victims' bodies bore evidence of mutilation to the eye sockets. Pathologists concluded the injuries were caused by a knife, leading investigators to the conclusion the killer had gouged out the eyes of his victims.^[30] Chikatilo's adult female victims were often prostitutes or homeless women who could be lured to secluded areas with promises of alcohol or money. Chikatilo would typically attempt intercourse with these victims, but he would usually be unable to achieve or maintain an erection which would send him into a murderous fury, particularly if the woman mocked his impotence. He would achieve orgasm only when he stabbed the victim to death. His child victims were of both sexes; Chikatilo would lure these victims to secluded areas using a variety of ruses, usually formed in the initial conversation with the victim,^[31] such as promising them assistance or company, the offer to show the victim a shortcut,^[32] a chance to view rare stamps, films or coins or with an offer of food or candy. He would usually overpower these victims once they were alone, tie their hands behind their backs with a length of rope, and then proceed to kill them.^[33]

On 11 December, 1982, Chikatilo encountered a 10-year-old girl named Olga Stalmachenok riding a bus to her parents' home in Novoshakhtinsk and persuaded the child to leave the bus with him. She was last seen by a fellow passenger being led firmly by the hand by a middle-aged man.^[34] Stalmachenok was lured to a cornfield on the outskirts of Novoshakhtinsk before she was killed. Chikatilo stabbed the girl in excess of 50 times around the head and body, ripped open her chest and excised her lower bowel and uterus.^[35]

Investigation[link]

By January 1983, a total of four victims thus far killed had been tentatively linked to the same killer. A Moscow police team, headed by Major Mikhail Fetisov, was sent to Rostov-on-Don to direct the investigation. Fetisov centered the investigations around Shakhty and assigned a newly appointed specialist forensic analyst, Viktor Burakov, to head the investigation. In April, Olga Stalmachenok's body was found. Burakov was summoned to the crime scene, where he noted the eviscerations conducted upon the child and that her eye sockets bore striations. Burakov later stated that, as he noted the striations upon Stalmachenok's eye sockets, any doubts about the presence of a serial killer evaporated.

Chikatilo did not kill again until June 1983, when he murdered a 15-year-old Armenian girl named Laura Sarkisyan, although her body was never found. By September, he had killed a further five victims. The accumulation of bodies found and the similarities between the pattern of wounds inflicted on the victims forced the Soviet authorities to acknowledge that a serial killer was on the loose. On 6 September 1983, the public prosecutor of the USSR formally linked six of the murders thus far committed to the same killer.^[36]

Due to the sheer savagery of the murders and the precision of the eviscerations upon the victims' bodies, police theorized that the killings may have been conducted by either a group harvesting organs to sell for transplant or the work of a Satanic cult.^[37] However, much of the police effort concentrated upon mentally ill citizens, homosexuals, known paedophiles and sex offenders, slowly working through all that were known and eliminating them from the inquiry. A number of young men confessed to the murders, although they were usually mentally handicapped youths who admitted to the crimes only under prolonged and often brutal interrogation. Three known homosexuals and a convicted sex offender committed suicide as a result of the investigators' heavy-handed tactics.^[38] However, as police obtained confessions from suspects, bodies continued to be discovered, proving that the suspects who had confessed could not be the killer the police were seeking; in October 1983, Chikatilo killed a 19-year-old prostitute named Vera Shevkun, and in December, a 14-year-old Gukovo schoolboy named Sergey Markov was lured off a train and murdered in Kazachi Lagerya.^[39]

1984[link]

In January and February 1984, Chikatilo killed two women in Rostov's Aviators' Park. On 24 March, he lured a 10-year-old boy, Dmitry Ptashnikov, away from a stamp kiosk in Novoshakhtinsk. While walking with the boy, Chikatilo was seen by several witnesses who were able to give investigators a detailed description of the killer. When Ptashnikov's body was found three days later, police also found a footprint of the killer and semen and saliva samples on the victim's clothing.^[40]

On 25 May, Chikatilo killed a young woman named Tatyana Petrosyan and her 11-year-old daughter, Svetlana, in a wooded area outside Shakhty. Petrosyan had known Chikatilo for several years prior to her murder.^[41] By 19 July, he had killed three further young women between the ages of 19 and 22 and a 13-year-old boy. In the summer of 1984, Chikatilo was fired from his work as a supply clerk for theft of property. The accusation had been filed against him the previous February and he had been asked to resign quietly, but had refused to do so as he had denied the charges.^[42] Chikatilo found another job as a supply clerk in Rostov on 1 August.^[43]

On 2 August, Chikatilo killed a 16-year-old girl, Natalya Golosovskaya, in Aviators' Park. On 7 August, he killed a 17-year-old girl on the banks of the Don River before flying to the Uzbekistan capital of Tashkent on a business trip. By the time Chikatilo returned to Rostov on 15 August, he had killed another young woman and a 12-year-old girl. Within two weeks an 11-year-old boy had been found strangled, castrated and with his eyes gouged out in Rostov before a young librarian, Irina Luchinskaya, was killed in Rostov's Aviators' Park on 6 September.

First arrest and release[link]

On 13 September 1984, exactly one week after his fifteenth killing of the year, Chikatilo was observed by an undercover detective attempting to lure young women away from a Rostov bus station.^[44] He was arrested and held. A search of his belongings revealed a knife and rope.^[45] He was also discovered to be under investigation for minor theft at one of his former employers, which gave the investigators the legal right to hold him for a prolonged period of time. Chikatilo's dubious background was uncovered, and his physical description matched the description of the man seen with Ptashnikov in March. These factors provided insufficient evidence to convict him of the murders, however. He was found guilty of theft of property from his previous employer^[46] and sentenced to one year in prison, but was freed on 12 December 1984 after serving three months.^[47]

On 8 October 1984, the head of the Russian Public Prosecutors Office formally linked 23 of Chikatilo's murders into one case, and dropped all charges against the mentally handicapped youths who had previously confessed to the murders.^[48]

Following the 6 September murder of Irina Luchinskaya, no further bodies were found bearing the trademark mutilation of Chikatilo's murders and investigators in Rostov theorized that the unknown killer might have moved to another part of the Soviet Union and continued killing there. The Rostov police sent bulletins to all forces throughout the Soviet Union, describing the pattern of wounds their unknown killer inflicted upon his victims and requesting feedback from any police force who had discovered murder victims with wounds matching those upon the victims found in the Rostov Oblast. The response was negative.^[49]

Later murders[link]

Upon his release from jail, Chikatilo found new work in Novocherkassk and kept a low profile. He did not kill again until 31 July 1985, when he murdered a young woman named Natalia Pokhlistova in a thicket of woods close to Moscow's Domodedovo Airport.^[50] Based upon the hypothesis the killer had travelled from the Rostov Oblast to Moscow via air, investigators checked all Aeroflot flight records of passengers who had commuted between Moscow and the Rostov Oblast between late July and early August. On this occasion, however, Chikatilo had travelled to Moscow by train and as such, no documentation existed for investigators to research. One month later, on 27 August, Chikatilo killed another young woman, Irina Gulyaeva, in Shakhty. As had been the case with Natalia Pokhlistova, the wounds inflicted upon the victim linked her murder to the hunt for the killer.

In November 1985, a special procurator named Issa Kostoyev was appointed to supervise the investigation.^[51] The known murders around Rostov were carefully re-investigated and police began another round of questioning of known sex offenders. The following month, the militsiya and Voluntary People's Druzhina renewed the patrolling of railway stations around Rostov. The police also took the step of consulting a psychiatrist, Dr. Alexandr Bukhanovsky, the first such consultation in a serial killer investigation in the Soviet Union.^[52]

Bukhanovsky produced a 65-page psychological profile of the unknown killer for the investigators, describing the killer as a man aged between 45 and 50 years old who was of average intelligence, likely to be married or had previously been married, but also a sadist who could achieve sexual arousal only by seeing his victims suffer.^[53] Bukhanovsky also argued, because many of the killings had occurred on weekdays near mass transportation and across the entire Rostov Oblast, that the killer's work required him to travel regularly, and based upon the actual days of the week when the killings had occurred, the killer was most likely tied to a production schedule.^[54]

Chikatilo followed the investigation carefully, reading newspaper reports about the manhunt for the killer^[55] and keeping his homicidal urges under control; throughout 1986 he is not known to have committed any murders. In 1987 Chikatilo killed three times; on each occasion he killed while on a business trip far away from the Rostov Oblast and none of these murders were linked to the manhunt in Rostov.^[56] Chikatilo's first murder in 1987 was committed in May, when he killed a 13-year-old boy named Oleg Makarenkov in Revda. In July, he killed another boy in Zaporizhia and a third in Leningrad in September.

Definitive resurfacing[link]

In 1988, Chikatilo killed three times, murdering an unidentified woman in Krasny Sulin in April and two boys in May and July. His first killing bore wounds similar to those inflicted on the victims linked to the manhunt killed between 1982 and 1985, but as the woman had been killed with a slab of concrete, investigators were unsure whether to link the murder to the investigation.^[57] In May Chikatilo killed a 9-year-old boy named Aleksey Voronko in Ilovaisk, Ukraine. The boy's wounds left no doubt the killer had struck again, and this murder was linked to the manhunt.^[58] On 14 July, Chikatilo killed a 15-year-old boy named Yevgeny Muratov at Donleskhoz station near Shakhty. Muratov's murder was also linked to the investigation, although his body was not found until April 1989.^[59]

Chikatilo did not kill again until 8 March 1989, when he killed a 16-year-old girl in his daughter's vacant apartment. He dismembered her body and hid the remains in a sewer. As the victim had been dismembered, police did not link her murder to the investigation. Between May and August, Chikatilo killed four more victims, three of whom were killed in Rostov and Shakhty,^[60] although only two of the victims were linked to the killer.

On 14 January 1990, Chikatilo killed an 11-year-old boy in Shakhty. On 7 March, he killed a 10-year-old boy named Yaroslav Makarov in Rostov's Botanical Gardens. The eviscerated body was found the following day.^[61] On 11 March, the leaders of the investigation, headed by Mikhail Fetisov, held a meeting to discuss progress made in the hunt for the killer.^[62]

Fetisov was under intense pressure from the public, the press and the Ministry of the Interior in Moscow to solve the case: the intensity of the manhunt in the years up to 1984 had receded to a degree between 1985 and 1987, when Chikatilo had killed only two victims conclusively linked to the killer — both of them in 1985. By March 1990, six further victims had been linked to the killer. Fetisov had noted laxity in some areas of the investigation, and warned that people would be fired if the killer was not caught soon.^[63]

Chikatilo had killed three further victims by August 1990: On 4 April, he killed a 31-year-old woman in woodland near Donleskhoz station,^[64] on 28 July, he lured a 13-year-old boy named Viktor Petrov away from a Rostov train station and killed him in Rostov's Botanical Gardens.^[65] On 14 August, he killed an 11-year-old boy in the reeds near Novocherkassk beach.

The snare[link]

The discovery of more victims sparked a massive operation by the police; as several victims had been found at stations on one rail route through the Rostov Oblast,^[66] Viktor Burakov — who had been involved in the hunt for the killer since 1982 — suggested a plan to saturate all larger stations in the Rostov Oblast with an obvious uniformed police presence the killer could not fail to notice, with the intention of discouraging the killer from attempting to strike at any of these locations, and to patrol with undercover agents smaller and less busy stations where his activities would be more likely to be noticed. The plan was approved, and both the uniformed and undercover officers were instructed to question any adult man in the company of a young woman or child and note his name and passport number.^[67] Police deployed 360 men at all the stations in the Rostov Oblast, and only undercover officers at the three smallest stations — Kirpichnaya, Donleskhoz and Lesostep — on the route through the oblast where the killer had struck most frequently,^[68] in an effort to force the killer to strike at one of these three stations. The operation was implemented on 27 October 1990.^[69]

On 30 October, police found the body of a 16-year-old boy named Vadim Gromov at Donleskhoz Station. Gromov had been killed on 17 October, 10 days before the start of the initiative. The same day Gromov's body was found, Chikatilo lured another 16-year-old boy, Viktor Tishchenko, off a train at Kirpichnaya Station, another station under surveillance from undercover police, and killed him in a nearby forest.^[70]

Surveillance[link]

On 6 November 1990, Chikatilo killed and mutilated a 22-year-old woman named Svetlana Korostik in woodland near Donleskhoz Station.^[71] While leaving the crime scene, he was seen by an undercover officer.^[72] The policeman observed Chikatilo approach a well and wash his hands and face.^[72] When he approached the station, the undercover officer noted that his coat had grass and soil stains on the elbows. Chikatilo also had a small red smear on his cheek.^[73] To the officer, he looked suspicious. The only reason people entered woodland near the station at that time of year was to gather wild mushrooms (a popular pastime in Russia). Chikatilo, however, was not dressed like a typical forest hiker; he was wearing more formal attire. Moreover, he had a nylon sports bag, which was not suitable for carrying mushrooms. The policeman stopped Chikatilo and checked his papers, but had no formal reason to arrest him. When the policeman returned to his office, he filed a routine report, containing the name of the person he had stopped at the train station.^[74]

On 13 November, Korostik's body was found. Police summoned the officer in charge of surveillance at Donleskhoz Station and examined the reports of all men stopped and questioned in the previous week.^[75] Chikatilo's name was among those reports, and his name was familiar to several officers involved in the case, as he had been questioned in 1984 and placed upon a 1987 suspect list compiled and distributed throughout the Soviet Union.^[76][77] Upon checking with Chikatilo's present and previous employers, investigators were able to place Chikatilo in various towns and cities at times when several victims linked to the investigation had been killed.^[78] Former colleagues from Chikatilo's teaching days informed investigators that Chikatilo had been forced to resign from his teaching position due to complaints of sexual assault from several pupils.^[79]

Police placed Chikatilo under surveillance on 14 November. In several instances, particularly on trains or buses, he was observed to approach lone young women or children and engage them in conversation; if the woman or child broke off the conversation, Chikatilo would wait a few minutes and then seek another conversation partner.^[80] On 20 November, after six days of surveillance, Chikatilo left his house with a one-gallon flask for beer, then wandered around Novocherkassk, attempting to make contact with children he met on his way. Upon exiting a cafe, Chikatilo was arrested by four plainclothes police officers.^[81]

Final arrest[link]

Upon arrest, Chikatilo gave a statement claiming that the police were mistaken, and complained that he had also been arrested in 1984 for the same series of murders.^[82] A strip-search of the suspect revealed a further piece of evidence: one of Chikatilo's fingers had a flesh wound. Medical examiners concluded the wound was, in fact, from a human bite. Chikatilo's penultimate victim was a physically strong 16-year-old youth. At the crime scene, the police had found numerous signs of a ferocious physical struggle between the victim and his murderer. Although a fingerbone was later found to be broken and his fingernail had been bitten off, Chikatilo had never sought medical treatment for the wound.^[83]

A search of Chikatilo's belongings revealed he had been in possession of a folding knife at the time of his arrest. Chikatilo was placed in a cell inside the KGB headquarters in Rostov with a police informer, who was instructed to engage him in conversation and elicit any information he could from him.^[84] The next day, 21 November, formal questioning of Chikatilo began. The interrogation was performed by Issa Kostoyev. The strategy chosen by the police to elicit a confession was to lead Chikatilo to believe that he was a very sick man in need of medical help. The intention of this strategy was to give Chikatilo hope that if he confessed, he would not be prosecuted by reason of insanity. Police knew their case against Chikatilo was largely circumstantial, and under Soviet law, they had ten days in which they could legally hold a suspect before either charging or releasing him. Throughout the questioning, Chikatilo repeatedly denied that he had committed the murders, although he did confess to molesting his pupils during his career as a teacher.^[85] He also produced several written essays for Kostoyev which, although evasive regarding the actual murders, did reveal psychological symptoms consistent with those predicted by Dr. Bukhanovsky in 1985. The interrogation tactics used by Kostoyev may also have caused Chikatilo to become defensive; the informer sharing a KGB cell with Chikatilo reported to police that Chikatilo had informed him that Kostoyev had repeatedly asked him direct questions regarding the mutilations inflicted upon the victims.^[86]

Chikatilo's confession[link]

On 29 November, at the request of Burakov and Fetisov, Dr. Alexandr Bukhanovsky, the psychiatrist who had written the 1985 psychological profile of the then-unknown killer for the investigators, was invited to assist in the questioning of the suspect. Bukhanovsky read extracts from his 65-page psychological profile to Chikatilo.^[87] Within two hours, Chikatilo confessed to Bukhanovsky that he was indeed guilty of the crimes for which he had been arrested. After conversing into the evening, Bukhanovsky reported to Burakov and Fetisov that Chikatilo was ready to confess.

Armed with the handwritten notes Bukhanovsky had prepared, Issa Kostoyev prepared a formal accusation of murder dated 29 November—the eve of the expiration of the ten-day period of time in which Chikatilo could legally be held before being charged.

The following morning, 30 November, Issa Kostoyev resumed the interrogation. According to the official protocol, Chikatilo confessed to 36 of the murders police had linked to him; although he denied two additional murders committed in 1986 which the police had initially believed he had committed. He gave a full, detailed description of each murder upon the list of charges, all of which were consistent with known facts regarding each killing. When prompted, he could draw a rough sketch of various crime scenes, indicating the postition of the victim's body and various landmarks in the vicinity of the crime scene. Other additional details provided further proof of his guilt: One victim upon the list of charges was a 19-year-old student named Anna Lemesheva. Chikatilo recalled that as he fought to overpower her, she had stated that a man named 'Bars' would retaliate for his attacking her. Lemesheva's fiancée had the nickname Bars tattoed on his hand.

In describing his victims, Chikatilo falsely referred to each as 'déclassé elements' whom he would typically lure from various bus and train stations to a secluded area before killing them. Chikatilo stated to Kostoyev he had often tasted the blood of his victims,^[88] and although he admitted he had chewed upon the excised sexual organs of several victims of both sexes, he stated he had later discarded these body parts. On 30 November, Chikatilo was formally charged with each of the 36 murders he had confessed to; all of which had been committed between June 1982 and November 1990.^[89]

Over the following days, Chikatilo confessed to a further 20 killings which had not been connected to the case, either because the murders had been committed outside the Rostov Oblast,^[90] because the bodies had not been found or, in the case of Yelena Zakotnova, because an innocent man had been convicted and executed for the murder. (Aleksandr Kravchenko received a posthumous pardon for Yelena Zakotnova's murder.)

In December 1990, Chikatilo led police to the body of Aleksey Khobotov,^[91] a boy he had confessed to killing in August 1989 and whom he had buried in woodland near a Shakhty cemetery, proving unequivocally that he was the killer.^[92] He later led investigators to the bodies of two other victims he had confessed to killing. Three of the 56 victims Chikatilo confessed to killing could not be found or identified, but Chikatilo was charged with killing 53 women and children between 1978 and 1990. He was held in the same cell in Rostov-on-Don where he had been detained on 20 November, to await trial.

Psychiatric evaluation[link]

On 20 August 1991,^[93] after completing the interrogation of Chikatilo and having completed a re-enactment of all the murders at each crime scene,^[94] Chikatilo was transferred to the Serbsky Institute in Moscow for a six-day psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he was mentally competent to stand trial. Chikatilo was analysed by a senior psychiatrist, Dr. Andrei Tkachenko, who declared him legally sane on 18 October.^[95] In December 1991, details of Chikatilo's arrest and a brief summary of his crimes were released to the newly liberated media by police.^[96]

Trial and conviction[link]

Chikatilo's trial was the first major event of post-Soviet Russia. Chikatilo stood trial in Rostov on 14 April 1992.^[97] During the trial, he was kept in an iron cage in a corner of the courtroom to protect him from attack by the many hysterical and enraged relatives of his victims. Chikatilo's head had been shaven — a standard prison precaution against lice.^[98] Relatives of victims regularly shouted threats and insults to Chikatilo throughout the trial, demanding that authorities release him so that they could kill him themselves. Each murder was discussed individually and, on several occasions, relatives broke down in tears when details of their relatives' murder were revealed; some even fainted.^[99]

Chikatilo regularly interrupted the trial, exposing himself, singing, and refusing to answer questions put to him by the judge. He was regularly removed from the courtroom for interrupting the proceedings.^[100] On 13 May, Chikatilo withdrew his confessions to six of the killings to which he had previously confessed.^[101] In July 1992, Chikatilo demanded that the judge be replaced for making too many rash remarks about his guilt. His defense counsel backed the claim. The judge looked to the prosecutor and even the prosecutor backed the defense's judgment, stating the judge had indeed made too many such remarks.^[102] The judge ruled the prosecutor be replaced instead.

On 9 August, both prosecution and defense delivered their final arguments before the judge. Chikatilo again attempted to interrupt the proceedings and had to be removed from the courtroom. Final sentence was postponed until 14 October.^[103] As the final deliberations began, the brother of Lyudmila Alekseyeva, a 17-year-old girl killed by Chikatilo in August 1984, threw a heavy chunk of metal at Chikatilo, hitting him in the chest.^[104] When security tried to arrest the young man, other victims' relatives shielded him, preventing him from being arrested.

On 14 October, the court reconvened and the judge read the list of murders again, not finishing until the following day.^[105] On 15 October, Chikatilo was found guilty of 52 of the 53 murders and sentenced to death for each offense. He was also found guilty of five counts of sexual assault committed during the years he worked as a teacher in the 1970s. Chikatilo kicked his bench across his cage when he heard the verdict, and began shouting abuse. He was offered a final chance to make a speech in response to the verdict, but remained silent.^[106] Upon passing final sentence, Judge Leonid Akhobzyanov made the following speech:

Chikatilo was taken from the courtroom to his cell at Novocherkassk prison to await execution. He did file an appeal against his conviction with the Russian Supreme Court, but this appeal was rejected in 1993.^[107]

Execution[link]

On 4 January 1994, Russian President Boris Yeltsin refused a last-ditch appeal for clemency.^[108]

On 14 February, Chikatilo was taken from his death row cell to a soundproofed room in Novocherkassk prison and executed with a single gunshot behind the right ear.^[109][110]

List of victims[link]

Chikatilo in film and literature[link]

Film

• The 1995 film Citizen X, based on Robert Cullen's book The Killer Department, portrayed the investigation of the "Rostov Ripper" murders. Citizen X starred Stephen Rea as Viktor Burakov, Jeffrey DeMunn as Chikatilo, Donald Sutherland as Mikhail Fetisov and Max von Sydow as Dr. Alexandr Bukhanovsky.
• The 2004 film Evilenko, starring Malcolm McDowell and Marton Csokas, was loosely based on Chikatilo's murders.

Books (factual)
Four books have been written about the case of Andrei Chikatilo:

• Robert Cullen, The Killer Department: Detective Viktor Burakov's Eight-Year Hunt for the Most Savage Serial Killer of Our Times (ISBN 1-85797-210-4).
• Richard Lourie, Hunting The Devil: The Pursuit, Capture and Confession of the Most Savage Serial Killer in History (ISBN 0-586-21846-7).
• Peter Conradi, The Red Ripper: Inside the Mind of Russia's Most Brutal Serial Killer (ISBN 0-86369-618-X).
• Mikhail Krivich and Olgert Olgin, Comrade Chikatilo: The Psychopathology of Russia's Notorious Serial Killer (ISBN 0-450-01717-6).

Fiction

• Child 44, a novel by Tom Rob Smith, draws heavily on the Chikatilo story. The story's events set several decades earlier, during the time of Joseph Stalin and immediately thereafter.

See also[link]

• List of murderers by number of victims

Footnotes[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Conradi, Peter. The Red Ripper: Inside the Mind of Russia’s Most Brutal Serial Killer. True Crime, 1992. ISBN 0-440-21603-6
• Cullen, Robert. The Killer Department: Detective Viktor Burakov's Eight-Year Hunt for the Most Savage Serial Killer of Our Times. Orion Media, 1993. ISBN 1-85797-210-4
• Lourie, Richard. Hunting the Devil: The Pursuit, Capture and Confession of the Most Savage Serial Killer in History. HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN 0-06-017717-9
• Mikhail Krivich and Olgert Olgin. Comrade Chikatilo: The Psychopathology of Russia's Notorious Serial Killer. Barricade Books, 1993. ISBN 0-450-01717-6
• Smith, Tom Rob. Child 44. 2008. ISBN 1-84737-126-4. A crime novel loosely based on Chikatilo.
• NTV (1997). Criminal Russia: The trail of Satan. A documentary on Chikatilo's case, produced by a Russian TV channel.

External links[link]

• Crime Library: Andrei Chikatilo
• Twisted Minds: Andrei Chikatilo
• Chikatilo's sentence
• Andrei Chikatilo profile from Crime and Investigation Network
• List of Chikatilo's victims with photos
• Son of Andrei Chikatilo tries to follow in dad’s footsteps
• Chikatilo’s Calvary by Mikhail Volokhov

Oleg Taktarov Оле́г Такта́ров
Born	Oleg Nikolaevich Taktarov (1967-08-26) August 26, 1967 (age 44) Arzamas-16, Russian SFSR, USSR
Other names	The Russian Bear
Nationality	Russian
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	95 kg (209 lb; 14 st 13 lb)
Division	Heavyweight
Rank	Master of Sport & 3rd degree black belt in Judo Master of Sport in Sambo[1] Black belt in Ju-Jitsu[2]
Years active	1993 - 1998, 2001, 2007 - 2008 (MMA)
Mixed martial arts record
Total	24
Wins	17
By knockout	2
By submission	14
By decision	1
Losses	5
By knockout	3
By decision	2
Draws	2
Other information
Website	http://www.olegt.com/
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
last updated on: March 10, 2011 (2011-03-10)

Oleg Nikolaevich Taktarov (Russian: Оле́г Никола́евич Такта́ров; born August 26, 1967) is a retired Russian mixed martial artist and actor. He is a practitioner of Sambo and Judo and has competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pride Fighting Championships. Taktarov was the UFC 6 tournament champion and holds notable wins over Marco Ruas and David "Tank" Abbott. Taktarov is known for being exceptionally calm during fights and for using a variety of rarely seen, acrobatic Sambo take-downs. All of Taktarov's losses were by knockout or decision, Taktarov was never submitted in an MMA fight.

Early life[link]

Taktarov was born in the closed city Arzamas-16 (today known as Sarov), USSR, before his family moved to Gorky, an industrial centre of Russia. Oleg’s father, a construction worker, wanted his son to become involved in sport, and so took him to a gymnasium at the nearby city of Sarov, with the intention of enrolling Oleg in ice hockey or weightlifting. But the twelve-year-old Taktarov had other ideas after observing athletes practicing judo. At first it appeared his father would have his way because the Sarov judo division had a policy of not accepting people from outside their city, but the instructor was impressed by the bright and well-mannered Oleg, and took him under his wing. "I liked judo and stuck with it. Then I found that there were similarities between judo and sambo (Russian unarmed self-defense system), and as Sarov was the only Sambo gymnasium specializing in leg locks, I decided to compete in both styles," says Taktarov.^[3]

Surprisingly, the intelligent and soft-spoken Oleg intended becoming a scientist. He hadn’t planned to make a career of grappling. But in the former Soviet Union it was mandatory for all male youths to serve a minimum of two years in the military. Prior to entering the army, Taktarov competed against two men - one, his training partner - for a place in the military’s sporting division. During the last bout, his adversary applied an ankle lock to Oleg. "He had a good lock on my ankle, and I heard the ligaments pop, but I couldn’t submit because the competition was too important to me. There were two other guys in my weight category and only one position in the army’s sport division, so I had to win. I threw him and he fell on his head and couldn’t continue," says Taktarov. Oleg went on to serve his time as a self-defense instructor, which included training an elite sector of the KGB in unarmed combat and counter-intelligence for three years. During this period Oleg suffered severe stomach pains and reported to his superior officer. The officer ignored Oleg’s plea for medical attention and ordered him back on duty. "He was the kind of guy who shouldn’t have been there," understates a cool Taktarov. The young soldier decided to go AWOL and travelled to a nearby hospital where a doctor successfully removed Oleg’s appendix, informing his patient that he would have died if he’d waited another fifteen minutes.^[3]

After completing his national service, Oleg traveled with another martial artist to the Republic of Latvia for a no-rules tournament. "My friend and I were at a car yard and he was going to buy a car. The Latvian special police didn’t like us because we were speaking Russian, and decided to throw us in gaol. But some of the organizers were looking for us, and luckily they found us, so we were released fifteen minutes before the competition started, which meant we had no time to warm up." Fortunately this did not stop Taktarov from becoming the tournament champion. Four times Oleg won the European and Asian jiu-jitsu Championships, and twice won the World Sambo Championships.^[3]

"At the age of twenty-six I was undefeated and had won everything I could at the time. So I traveled to the United States with the intention of becoming an actor, but I found that it wasn’t easy to get started in the movies, so I decided to fight because I had to think about an income and improving my English." Oleg also commenced working in theaters to improve his acting skills.^[3]

Mixed martial arts career[link]

Ultimate Fighting Championship[link]

On November 12, 1993, the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) were held in Denver, Colorado, where fighters from all martial arts codes were invited to compete for a purse of US$50,000, in a no-holds-barred elimination tournament billed as being, "not for the faint-hearted". The show-down was held inside the eight-sided ring, known as The Octagon, that measures 32 feet across, and is surrounded by a five-foot-high chain fence.^[3]

In April, 1995, Oleg entered UFC 5 in Charlotte, North Carolina, billed as "The Russian Bear". "It (the title) sounds alright to me now, but before.....I was called this by the manager I had then, who was from Texas. He thought that Texas was the capital of the world," laughs Oleg. "He didn’t know any other places existed. He just knew that Russia had bears and vodka, and he couldn’t call me ‘The Russian Vodka’." When Oleg entered UFC 5 he was regarded by the organizers as "The X-Factor". His friend and Lion’s Den fighter, Guy Mezger, had spoken highly of Taktarov, but the Russian was an unknown quantity. Before the tournament, competitors were interviewed pulling macho faces and growling, whilst boasting how they were going to win the event and destroy their opponents. By contrast, Oleg coolly said he was from Gorky, Russia, and smiled an infectious smile at the cameras. Held in Charlotte, North Carolina, the competition claimed to have eight contenders representing eight different martial arts, but as Royce Gracie had previously stated, many of the UFC competitors were now abandoning their own arts to copy his grappling techniques. The fact that a fighter was listed as representing the art of Tae Kwon Do did not mean he would be using TKD striking techniques against his opponent.^[3]

In UFC 5, the program had Oleg Taktarov listed as representing the Russian discipline of Sambo. "At first I was kind of disappointed because in Russia they would have regarded me as a jiu-jitsu exponent because it was a new art I was practicing back there, whereas many people were already doing judo and sambo in Russia. Here in America, people categorized me as a sambo artist because it was unique and unusual, and that’s what they liked. But I don’t mind now," says Taktarov.^[3]

Between UFC 5 and UFC 6 (where he won the tournament, beating David "Tank" Abbott in the finals), Taktarov lived and trained with Ken Shamrock's Lion's Den fighting team.^[4] Taktarov started his American training with Gene LeBell, Jovany Varela and Gokor Chivichyan.

Despite badly injuring his knee in training shortly before the event, Takatarov entered the UFC 5 tournament, winning his first fight but losing in the semi-finals to eventual champion Dan Severn by stoppage due to a cut. The fight was stopped by the referee because of profuse bleeding above Taktarov's eye due to a cut caused by knees from Severn while Oleg was seeking an armbar from the guard. Taktarov disputes this loss to this day, saying that he could have continued to fight and that he does not consider this cut stoppage to be an actual loss.^[3]

After losing at UFC 5, Taktarov went to live and train with his friend Ken Shamrock's Lion's Den training camp. Taktarov talked about his experience in an interview: "For a month Ken and I fought together. The guys who later became good fighters, like Frank Shamrock or Guy Mezger, were not any competition for me at the time. The only guy I trained with was Ken, and we had battles behind closed doors. Nobody was allowed to watch them."^[3]

Taktarov returned at UFC 6 where, in the semifinal bout, Anthony Macias was brought in to replace Patrick Smith due to injury. The fight ended in 12 seconds with Taktarov submitting Macias via front choke becoming the fastest submission in UFC history.^[5] Taktarov went on to defeat a much larger David "Tank" Abbott by rear naked choke after 17 grueling minutes to win the UFC 6 tournament. Taktarov displayed incredible heart and willpower during the fight and had to be taken to the hospital afterwards due to the high altitude of Casper, Wyoming.

Well respected by Bob & Ken Shamrock, Taktarov, being the reigning tournament champion, was set up to fight his friend and reigning UFC Champion Ken Shamrock in UFC 7 for the UFC Superfight Championship. Taktarov again displayed an incredible amount of heart in this fight, taking a lot of punishment but refusing to quit. The fight had a 30 minute time limit and went into three minutes of overtime, finishing as a draw at 33 minutes.

Taktarov then entered the UFC's Ultimate Ultimate 1995 tournament. Oleg advanced to the finals of the tournament, defeating UFC 5 finalist Dave Beneteau and highly regarded UFC 7 champion Marco Ruas in the process. Taktarov met Dan Severn in the finals in a rematch of their fight at UFC 5. After 30 minutes the judges awarded Dan Severn a decision victory based on points scored during the bout.

On November 21, 2003, at UFC 45, the UFC conducted a poll amongst the fans to determine the most popular fighters in the history of the UFC. The fans voted Oleg as one of the top 10 most popular fighters in the history of the UFC.

Post-UFC[link]

Taktarov fought in the first ever Pride 1 show on Oct 11, 1997 facing Canadian heavyweight and UFC veteran Gary Goodridge. Unfortunately for Oleg, he suffered a frightening knockout loss. After being knocked unconscious, the hulking 'Big Daddy' landed a scary right hook on the prone Taktarov. Oleg had to be carried out on a stretcher. He later fully recovered. In one of his recent interviews he attributed Goodridge's victory to the peak of the anabolic steroid cycle that Goodridge allegedly went through prior to the fight. Taktarov further asserted that Goodridge's following performances (i.e. a string of losses) clearly indicated the downtrend of the steroid cycle.

Perhaps the most famous non-UFC fight of his MMA career is when he faced Renzo Gracie in the MARS Reality Fighting event. The anticipated ground battle never took off and he lost by KO by an up kick as he was looking for a leg submission.

Oleg faced his rival Marco Ruas once again in Brazil in a super fight at the World Vale Tudo Championships. It was agreed that there would be no judges for this bout, and when time ran out, it was ruled a draw.

Oleg faced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert Sean Alvarez in Pentagon Combat an event held in Brazil. Wearing boxing trunks, he displayed boxing skills by knocking out his opponent.

In Russia, for a specialized event Oleg faced Dolph Lundgren in a celebrity boxing match and won via split decision.^[6]

Return to mixed martial arts[link]

Prior to making a successful comeback to the sport in 2007, Taktarov's last bout was in 2001. Taktarov announced in an online radio interview in November 2007 his plans to return to MMA with BodogFight.^[7] He won his debut match against John Marsh at 33 seconds into the 2nd round of the match by submission (kneebar). He then fought UFC 14 and UFC 15 heavyweight champion Mark Kerr, again winning by kneebar.

Taktarov is now retired from mixed martial arts.

Acting career[link]

After temporarily retiring from mixed martial arts, Taktarov focused on his acting career, and starred in the movies 15 Minutes, Bad Boys II, 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out, Air Force One, and the 2002 version of Rollerball. He also appeared in the first episode of season 3 of Alias entitled The Two^[8] and in the NCIS season 5 finale Judgement Day. He has also appeared in a few Russian productions, and was cast in a few releases from 2007, such as We Own the Night.^[9] Taktarov also released several instructional Sambo videos and has made an instructional video with Vladimir Vasiliev entitled Russian Mega Fighting.^[10] Taktarov more recently starred in Robert Rodriguez's franchise reboot, Predators, directed by Nimród Antal.

Filmography[link]

Championships and accomplishments[link]

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • UFC 6 Tournament Winner
  • Ultimate Ultimate 1995 Runner Up
  • UFC 5 Tournament Semi-Finalist
  • UFC Viewer's Choice Award^[11]

Mixed martial arts record[link]

Result	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Win	17–5–2	Mark Kerr	Submission (kneebar)	YAMMA Pit Fighting	02008-04-11April 11, 2008	1	1:55	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	16–5–2	John Marsh	Submission (kneebar)	BodogFIGHT: USA vs. Russia	02007-11-30November 30, 2007	2	0:33	Moscow, Russia
Win	15–5–2	Aaron Salinas	Submission (armbar)	Total Kombat	02001-05-13May 13, 2001	1	1:24	McAllen, Texas, United States
Win	14–5–2	Moti Horenstein	Submission (kneebar)	National Freesparring	01998-02-21February 21, 1998	1	3:24	Almaty, Kazakhstan
Win	13–5–2	Mick Tierney	Submission (kneebar)	National Freesparring	01998-02-21February 21, 1998	1	3:58	Almaty, Kazakhstan
Loss	12–5–2	Gary Goodridge	KO (punch)	Pride 1	01997-10-11October 11, 1997	1	4:57	Tokyo, Japan
Win	12–4–2	Sean Alvarez	KO (punches)	Pentagon Combat	01997-09-27September 27, 1997	1	0:52	Brazil
Win	11–4–2	Chuck Kim	Submission (guillotine choke)	World Fighting Federation	01997-02-24February 24, 1997	1	0:22	Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Loss	10–4–2	Renzo Gracie	KO (upkick and punch)	Martial Arts Reality Superfighting	01996-11-22November 22, 1996	1	1:02	Birmingham, Alabama, United States
vDraw	10–3–2	Marco Ruas	Draw	World Vale Tudo Championship 2	01996-11-10November 10, 1996	1	31:12	Brazil
Win	10–3–1	Joe Charles	Submission (kneebar)	World Vale Tudo Championship 1	01996-08-14August 14, 1996	1	4:42	Tokyo, Japan
Loss	9–3–1	Ryūshi Yanagisawa	Decision (lost points)	Pancrase: Truth 5	01996-05-16May 16, 1996	1	15:00	Tokyo, Japan
Loss	9–2–1	Dan Severn	Decision (unanimous)	Ultimate Ultimate 1995	01995-12-16December 16, 1995	1	30:00	Denver, Colorado, United States
Win	9–1–1	Marco Ruas	Decision (unanimous)	Ultimate Ultimate 1995	01995-12-16December 16, 1995	1	18:00	Denver, Colorado, United States
Win	8–1–1	Dave Beneteau	Submission (achilles hold)	Ultimate Ultimate 1995	01995-12-16December 16, 1995	1	1:15	Denver, Colorado, United States
vDraw	7–1–1	Ken Shamrock	Draw	UFC 7	01995-09-08September 8, 1995	1	33:00	Buffalo, New York, United States	For UFC Superfight title
Win	7–1	Tank Abbott	Submission (rear naked choke)	UFC 6	01995-07-14July 14, 1995	1	17:45	Casper, Wyoming, United States	Won UFC 6 Tournament
Win	6–1	Anthony Macias	Submission (guillotine choke)	UFC 6	01995-07-14July 14, 1995	1	0:09	Casper, Wyoming, United States
Win	5–1	Dave Beneteau	Submission (front choke)	UFC 6	01995-07-14July 14, 1995	1	0:57	Casper, Wyoming, United States
Loss	4–1	Dan Severn	TKO (cut)	UFC 5	01995-04-07April 7, 1995	1	4:21	Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Win	4–0	Ernie Verdicia	Submission (choke)	UFC 5	01995-04-07April 7, 1995	1	2:23	Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Win	3–0	Maxim Kuzin	Submission (choke)	White Dragon: Day Three	01993-10-23October 23, 1993	1	1:11	Riga, Latvia
Win	2–0	Artur Almaev	TKO (corner stoppage)	White Dragon: Day Two	01993-10-22October 22, 1993	1	4:25	Riga, Latvia
Win	1–0	Vaskas Hilma	Submission (choke)	White Dragon: Day Two	01993-10-22October 22, 1993	1	0:24	Riga, Latvia

See also[link]

• List of male mixed martial artists

References[link]

External links[link]

• Professional MMA record for Oleg Taktarov from Sherdog
• Official website
• Oleg Taktarov at the Internet Movie Database

Andrei Kirilenko

Andrei Kirilenko in 2011
No. 15 – CSKA Moscow
Small forward
Personal information
Born	(1981-02-18) February 18, 1981 (age 31) Izhevsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Russian American
Listed height	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight	225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
NBA Draft	1999 / Round: 1 / Pick: 24th overall
Selected by the Utah Jazz
Pro career	1997–present
League	PBL Euroleague VTB United League
Career history
1997–1998	Spartak St. Petersburg (Russia)
1998–2001	CSKA Moscow (Russia)
2001–2011	Utah Jazz
2011–present	CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Career highlights and awards
NBA All-Star (2004) All-Defensive First Team (2006) 2× All-Defensive Second Team (2004–2005) NBA blocks leader (2005) NBA All-Rookie First Team (2002) EuroBasket 2007 MVP European Player of the Year: FIBA Europe 2007 Euroleague MVP 2012 All-Euroleague First Team 2012 Euroleague Defensive Player of the Year 2012 Russian Championship 2000 MVP VTB United League MVP (2012) VTB United League Final Four MVP (2012) VTB United League Champion (2012)
Stats at NBA.com

Andrei Gennadyevich Kirilenko (Russian: Андрей Геннадьевич Кириленко; born February 18, 1981) is a Russian professional basketball player who plays the small forward position for CSKA Moscow in the Russian Professional Basketball League and the Euroleague. He is 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) tall and weighs 103 kg (227 lb). At age fifteen, Kirilenko began playing professional basketball in his native Russia with the Russian Basketball Super League. He spent another three years with CSKA Moscow, winning the Russian league MVP award in 2000.

In 2001, Kirilenko joined the Utah Jazz, who drafted him in 1999. He became the first Russian player selected in the first round of a draft and the youngest European player drafted. He made the NBA All-Rookie Team after his first season, was an NBA All-Defensive Team pick three times and played in the 2004 All-Star Game. In 2012, he led CSKA Moscow to the Euroleague Final^[1], being named the competition's MVP, while earning an All-Euroleague First Team selection. He also won the Euroleague Defensive Player of the Year award the same year.

Since the 2000 Summer Olympics, Kirilenko has been a regular member of the Russian national team. With Russia he won the Eurobasket title in 2007, earning MVP honors in the process. In 2011 he won his second Eurobasket medal, this time the bronze. He was selected in the All-Tournament Team on both occasions.

Kirilenko is sometimes nicknamed AK47 because his initials are AK and his jersey number is 47. Moreover, Andrei was born in the city of Izhevsk in the former Soviet Union (Russia), where the weapon is manufactured. In 2011, he became an American citizen.

Early years[link]

Kirilenko was born in the Soviet Russian city of Izhevsk, Russia.^[2] When he was ten, he began playing organized basketball. In 1997, Kirilenko became the youngest player ever to compete in the Russian Superleague. After spending two seasons with Spartak Saint Petersburg, he joined CSKA Moscow in 1998. In his first season, he helped his new team win the Russian Superleague championship.^[3] He was also selected to participate in the Russian All-Star game, helping the West beat the East 138–107 and winning the slam dunk contest.

NBA career[link]

Utah Jazz (1999–2011)[link]

On June 30, 1999, at age &1000000000000001800000018 years, &10000000000000132000000132 days, Kirilenko was the youngest European player at the time to be drafted in the National Basketball Association, when the Utah Jazz selected him with the 24th pick. Kirilenko was also the first Russian picked in the first round of an NBA Draft.^[2] However, he remained with CSKA Moscow for the next two seasons. In the 1999–2000 season, he helped his team win the championship of the North European Basketball League and its second Russian Superleague championship in a row. On April 23, 2000, he participated in his second Russian All-Star game, helping the West beat the East 122–111. Despite being the odds-on favorite to win the slam dunk contest, he finished second to Harold Dean of Lokomotiv Mineralnye Vody.

Andrei Kirilenko participated in the 2000 Summer Olympics as a member of the Russian national basketball team, which finished 8th in the tournament. On February 8, 2001, in his third season with CSKA Moscow, Kirilenko became the second player ever in the history of the FIBA SuproLeague to record a triple-double with 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 steals against Lietuvos Rytas. He showed off his all-around skills in the European Championships, finishing in top ten in 7 out of 8 statistical categories.

Kirilenko joined the Utah Jazz in 2001. He was named to the first team on the NBA All-Rookie team. He has since emerged as one of the top young players in the NBA, and one of the league's top weak-side defenders. He was selected to play as a reserve in the 2004 NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles. In the 2003–04 NBA season, he ranked third in the league in blocked shots per game and fourth in the league in steals per game,^[2] becoming just the second player in NBA history to rank in the top five in both categories (David Robinson ranked first in blocked shots per game and fifth in steals per game in the 1991–92 NBA season). During the NBA offseason, Kirilenko plays for the Russian national basketball team.

Kirilenko became the leader of the Jazz in 2003 after John Stockton retired and Karl Malone left Utah to join the Los Angeles Lakers.^[3] He played and started in 78 of the Utah's 82 games and led them to a 42–40 record. Utah missed the playoffs by one game behind the Denver Nuggets. He finished fifth in Defensive Player of the Year voting and fourth in Most Improved Player voting and was named to the second team on the All-NBA Defensive Team. Kirilenko led the Jazz in many statistical categories:

Kirilenko with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2008

• total points: 1284
• points per game: 16.5
• total rebounds: 629
• rebounds per game: 8.1
• blocks: 215
• blocks per game: 2.8
• steals: 150
• steals per game: 1.9
• free throws made: 392
• free throws attempted: 496
• three-pointers made: 68
• three-pointers attempted: 201

In the middle of the 2004–05 season against the Washington Wizards, Kirilenko sustained a broken right wrist, sidelining him for the remainder of the season. Despite only playing in 41 of the Jazz' 82 games, he amassed enough blocked shots during the season to qualify as the league leader in blocks per game, and was named to the second team on the NBA All-Defensive Team.^[2]

In the 2005–06 season Kirilenko was again among the league's best shot blockers and defenders. He recorded a career high 10 blocks against Indiana on March 26 and finished first in the league with total blocks (220) and second in blocks per game with 3.2, just behind league leader Marcus Camby at 3.3. He was named to the first team on the NBA All-Defensive Team.

Kirilenko averaged 15.3 points, 8 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 3.2 blocks and 4.3 assists per game in the 2005–2006 season.

Kirilenko and Hakeem Olajuwon are the only 2 NBA players who have finished a game with at least 6 steals, 6 blocks, 6 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists since 1985–96.

The 2006–2007 season was a tremendous disappointment for Kirilenko. While playing in 70 games and not missing much playing time, he averaged career lows in points (8.3), rebounds (4.7), and field goal attempts (3.4). It has been said that much of this decline can be attributed to the main offensive emphasis on Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams, and Mehmet Okur, and that Kirilenko was uncomfortable losing his position as the main go-to guy on the team. His frustration eventually culminated in a widely-publicized breakdown near the end of the Jazz's first-round playoffs series against the Houston Rockets. Kirilenko bounced back to lead Russia to the championship in EuroBasket 2007, and was named MVP of the tournament. Following his performance in the 2007 European championship he asked to be released from his contract to return to Russia to play basketball.

Despite the trade rumors and controversy created by these statements, he rebounded in the 2007–08 NBA season and backed off on trade demands. His statistics for the 2007–08 NBA season were: 11.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.2 spg, and 1.5 bpg, all of which were improvements over his previous season's stats (with the exception of blocks and rebounds). He worked out personally with former Jazz shooting guard Jeff Hornacek on his shooting in the 2007 off-season, and his field goal percentage improved from 47% to 51%. Most impressively, his 3-point shooting improved from 21% to a career-high 38%.

Back to Russia[link]

It was reported on October 4, 2011 that Kirilenko returned to his old Russian team, PBC CSKA Moscow.^[4] On December 31, 2011, it was confirmed on ESPN.com that he will remain there for the rest of the 2011–2012 NBA season. At the end of the season, he was named the 2012 Euroleague MVP and selected to the All-Euroleague First Team. Over 17 games in the Euroleague, he avereged 14.1 points and 7.5 rebounds in 29.9 minutes per game.

Russian national team[link]

Medal record
Competitor for  Russia
European Championships
Gold	2007 Spain	National team
Bronze	2011 Lithuania	Team

His first international tournament was in the 2000 Summer Olympics when the Russian national basketball team finished the games in the 8th place. Later he played at the 2001 European Championship, where Russia finished 5th among 16 teams. The only time that Kirilenko played in a FIBA World Championship was at the 2002 FIBA World Championship where the Russian team finished 10th out of 16 teams. Kirilenko has also played at 4 European Championships, the 2003 European Championship, the 2005 European Championship, and the 2007 European Championship, where he won the gold medal of the competition and was named the MVP of the tournament. With the win in the 2007 European Championship, Russia qualified to the 2008 Summer Olympics, where Kirilenko also played for Russia and he was also named Russia's Flag bearer for the Opening Ceremony of the games.

In the first game of the 2008 Olympics tournament against Iran, Kirilenko scored 15 points, pulled down 5 rebounds and blocked 3 shots.^[5] Against Croatia, he led his team in points scored with 18, and he scored his personal best in the games against Argentina, scoring 23.

Awards and honors[link]

• NBA All-Star: 2004
• NBA All-Defensive Team:

• First Team: 2006
• Second Team: 2004, 2005

• NBA All-Rookie First Team: 2002

NBA career statistics[link]

Regular season[link]

Playoffs[link]