Artem or Artyom Mikhaylovich Tarasov (russian: Артём Миха́йлович Тара́сов; 4 July 1950,

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

— 22 July 2017, Moscow) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

businessman and political activist of Armenian descent.

Biography

Tarasov was a descendant of a well-known family of Armenian traders. Oil industrialist and dandy Nikolai Tarasov (1882–1910), co-founder of Moscow Bat theatre, and

Henri Troyat Henri Troyat (born Lev Aslanovich Tarasov; – 2 March 2007) was a Russian-born French author, biographer, historian and novelist. Early life Lev Aslanovich Tarasov (russian: link=no, Лев Асланович Тарасов, ''Lev Aslanovich ...

(Lev Tarasov) are among his paternal relatives. Born to a photographer father and academic mother, Tarasov received several degrees as an engineer, a computer scientist, and an economic planner. He had a successful career as a scientific manager. His company, Progress, was the tenth co-operative officially registered in Moscow, but it was shut down by the Moscow authorities as “amoral, dangerous to society and contrary to socialist principles”. Then he founded his next successful co-operative, Technika. Tarasov was the co-founder of

Kommersant ''Kommersant'' (russian: Коммерсантъ, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia ...

daily newspaper, the first independent airline, Transaero, and was elected to the Russian parliament. After a conflict with Soviet officials in 1990, he left the USSR and settled in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. In 1993, he returned to Russia and was once again

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a populatio ...

to the

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...

. In 1996, he decided to run for

Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...

as an independent pro-business candidate, but his application was rejected by the

Central Election Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

. By the late 2000s Tarasov was spending most of his time in London. In 2005, his book, ''Millionaire'', detailing the rise of post-Soviet oligarchs, was published. Tarasov died in Moscow on 22 July 2017.

References

Links

Official site

from rb.ru –
Interview with Artyom Tarasov
from Gazeta.ru –
Артём Тарасов: Миллионер Из Трущоб
"Artem Tarasov: Slumdog Millionaire", from Interview Magazine – Russian people of Armenian descent 1950 births 2017 deaths First convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Businesspeople from Moscow Russian political activists Yabloko politicians Russian businesspeople in the United Kingdom Moscow State Mining University alumni Soviet businesspeople {{activist-stub