Sergey Yervandovich Kurginyan (russian: Сергей Ервандович Кургинян) is a Russian politician, scientist, and theatre producer. He is the founder and leader of the Russian ultraconservative movement
Essence of Time
Essence of Time (russian: Суть времени, Sut' vremeni) is a Russian political movement founded and led by political scientist, philosopher, and theater director Sergey Kurginyan, Sergei Kurginyan.
Principles
The movement's ideology ...
.
Biography
He was born in
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 ...
; his father, Yervand Amayakovich Kurginyan (1914–1996), of
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
n origin, was a
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
of
modern history
The term modern period or modern era (sometimes also called modern history or modern times) is the period of history that succeeds the Middle Ages (which ended approximately 1500 AD). This terminology is a historical periodization that is applie ...
and a specialist on the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
. His mother, Mariya Sergeyevna Kurginyan (Bekman) (1922–1989), was a senior research fellow at the
Gorky Institute of World Literature
The Gorky Institute of World Literature (IMLI; russian: Институт мировой литературы им. А. М. Горького РАН) is a research institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.
Not to be confused with the G ...
, an expert on
Thomas Mann
Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...
and the author of several monographs. His maternal grandfather was a
White officer who went over to the
Red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
side in the Civil War; he was executed on 2 November 1938.
Kurginyan graduated from the Moscow Institute of Geological Exploration with the specialty of geophysics (1972). He finished at Shchukin's Theatre School (1983), specializing in "directing the drama." He gained his Ph.D. in Mathematical Sciences, Fellow
Institute of Oceanology, USSR Academy of Sciences (1974–1980). Up to 1986, he was a senior research fellow at the Laboratory of Applied Cybernetics, Moscow Institute of Geological Exploration.
Soviet period
Kurginyan was a member of the commission on new theatrical forms of the Theatre Union of the RSFSR and the initiator of the socio-economic experiment "Studio Theatre at the collective work contract." In 1967, while a student, Kurginyan created his own Theatre Studio which in 1986, together with the studios of M. Rozovsky, "the South-West", "Man" and others took part in the experiment "Theatre in the collective work contract." According to the results of the experiment Kurginyan's theatre "On the boards" got the status of a state theatre. The theatre of Sergey Kurginyan confesses
Philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
and
metaphysical
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
approach to the phenomena of our time.
From the 1980s, Kurginyan in parallel to his
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
activities was engaged in the analysis of the political process. In November 1987, the executive committee of the
Moscow City Council by the decision N 2622 created the "Experimental Creative Center" which was based on the theatre-studio "On the boards" and gave him the set of premises on the Vspolny Lane in Moscow. In January 1989, Kurginyan became the boss of the organization of a new type - "Experimental Creative Center", which was established by the Moscow City Authority on the base of his theater. He repeatedly went to the "hot spots" on behalf of the
Central Committee
Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...
(then - leadership of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR) for independent examination.
After unsuccessful attempts to offer his services to the Secretary
Central Committee
Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...
Alexander Yakovlev
Alexander Nikolayevich Yakovlev (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Я́ковлев; 2 December 1923 – 18 October 2005) was a Soviet and Russian politician, diplomat, and historian. A member of the Politburo and Secretar ...
(1987), chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme
RSFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
Vitaly Vorotnikov
Vitaly Ivanovich Vorotnikov (russian: Вита́лий Ива́нович Воротнико́в; 20 January 1926 – 19 February 2012) was a Soviet politician and diplomat who was the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ru ...
and the chairman of the KGB
Victor Cherbrikov (1988) Kurginyan was close to the second (later the first) Secretary of the CPSU MGK Yuri Prokofiev and was introduced into groups of the
Council of Ministers of the USSR
The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Совет министров СССР, r=Sovet Ministrov SSSR, p=sɐˈvʲet mʲɪˈnʲistrəf ɛsɛsɛˈsɛr; sometimes abbreviated to ''Sovmin'' or referred to as the '' ...
and the Central Committee. In September 1990, at the brainstorm in the Council of Ministers Kurginyan proposed rigid confiscatory measures and mass repressions against "speculators
informal economy
An informal economy (informal sector or grey economy) is the part of any economy that is neither taxed nor monitored by any form of government.
Although the informal sector makes up a significant portion of the economies in developing countrie ...
", calling the remark Deputy Prime Minister
Leonid Abalkin
Leonid Ivanovich Abalkin (russian: Леони́д Ива́нович Аба́лкин ; 5 May 1930 – 2 May 2011) was a Russian economist.
Biography
Abalkin was born in Moscow in 1930. He was a graduate of the Plekhanov Moscow Institute of the ...
"we already went through it in 1937". He supported in this period close contact with the "Union".
In 1990, Kurginyan ran for the deputies of the RSFSR (on Chertanovskaya territorial district N 58, Moscow). The election program of the candidate S. Kurginyan proposed the strategy for national salvation of Russia which was developed to prevent the disintegration of the Russian economy, society and state. In response to the question of where to get the money to implement this program, a candidate's campaign materials stated that Russia annually loses huge sums of money due to unequal distribution between the constituent republics of the USSR, the unfinished objects, the Union's "projects of the century" and so on.
[Агитационный материал кандидата в народные депутаты РСФСР по Чертановскому территориальному избирательному округу N 58 (г. Москва) С. Е. Кургиняна на выборах 4 марта 1990 года](_blank)
The Russians were offered to follow the example of Japan and "sparingly and prudently" put all the released funds to the program of national salvation of Russia.
In 1990, Kurginyan created "Experimental Creative Centre" which main task is to unite aesthetics, ethics and epistemology. Since 2004 this community has associated nongovernmental status in the United Nations.
In 1991, Kurginyan refused to become a counselor of
Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Comm ...
because of differences in attitudes towards the withdrawal of the Communist Party and the country out of the impasse. Kurginyan's idea of relying on an intelligent layer (mainly scientific and technical intelligentsia) for guiding the country through the modernization was supported by Yuri Prokofiev, the secretary of the CPSU MGK. A number of houses in the center of Moscow have been granted to S. Kurginyan who united in the Experimental Creative Center a number of organizations and laboratories with the development breakthroughs.
Post-Soviet period
In 1993, Kurginyan became an advisor of
Ruslan Khasbulatov
Ruslan Imranovich Khasbulatov (russian: link=no, Русла́н Имранович Хасбула́тов, ce, Хасбола́ти Имра́ни кIант Руслан) (born November 22, 1942) is a Russian economist and politician and the ...
. During
events of October 1993 he was in the building of the Supreme Council. He was the developer of the script of the behavior of the opposition forces, an alternative to that which was implemented on 3 October ("march to the Ostankino"). According to him, a campaign plan to Ostankino was provocative. Several times he thwarted provocations, organized among the "White House's Citizens" (so-called "Sokolov's rebellion," etc.), strongly objected to the incorporation in "White House's Citizens" the
Barkashov's fellows and other provocative elements.
He led political dialogue and the information campaign in favor of the Supreme Council. September 30 the "party" supporters of the march to the Ostankino, existing inside the building, achieved expulsion of S. Kurginyan as a dangerous enemy. The same day, S. Kurginyan addressed to all the supporters of the Supreme Council with a cautionary note of the impending provocation. The warning was passed through the channels that existed at the time: the information system "The Ring". It also appeared on the tapes of official news (full text in "Russia-XXI», № 8, 1993).
In 1996 he invited the representatives of big business (among them
Boris Berezovsky,
Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky (russian: link=no, Михаил Борисович Ходорковский, ; born 26 June 1963), sometimes known by his initials MBK, is an exiled Russian businessman and opposition activist, now residing in L ...
,
Vladimir Gusinsky
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Gusinsky (russian: Владимир Александрович Гусинский, ; born 6 October 1952) is a Russian media tycoon. He founded the Media-Most holding company that included the NTV free-to-air channel, t ...
,
Mikhail Fridman
Mikhail Maratovich Fridman (also transliterated Mikhail Friedman; russian: Михаил Маратович Фридман; he, מיכאיל פרידמן; born 21 April 1964) is a Ukrainian-born, Russian–Israeli businessman, billionaire, and ...
and others) to unite and embark on a constructive public attitude. The result was the famous "Letter from thirteen" which led to the creation of the so-called
Semibankirschina
Semibankirschina (), or seven bankers, was a group of seven powerful Russian business oligarchs who played an important role in the political and economical life of Russia between 1996 and 2000. In spite of internal conflicts, the group worked ...
— a closed group of oligarchs who owned over 50% of all Russian resources, the majority of Russian mass media, and who promoted
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
during the
presidential election of 1996. Between 1996 and 2000 they turned into the main power behind Russian politics and economy, unofficially manipulating Yeltsin and his decisions.
In his own words, he participated in the removal of Gen.
Alexander Lebed
Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Lebed (russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ле́бедь, link=no; 20 April 1950 – 28 April 2002) was a Soviet and Russian military officer and politician who held senior positions in the Ai ...
from the post of Secretary
Russian Security Council
The Security Council of the Russian Federation (SCRF or Sovbez; russian: Совет безопасности Российской Федерации (СБРФ), Sovet bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii (SBRF)) is a constitutional consultative bo ...
.
In 2007, before the presidential election in Russia he said that "the principle of presidential power in Russia is a more fundamental constitutional than the principle, which refers to the two-term presidency," and expressed concern that "if Putin tries to move from the presidency at a millimeter, it will collapse the system."
From July to December 2010 he was a co-host of TV program "The court of time."
In 2011, after the Congress party United Russia, in comments on the nomination of Putin as a candidate for President of Russia, Kurginyan said that "a process that they would like to turn towards a return to radical liberalism, in this side it did not turn". He added that "the de-Stalinization of radical liberalism, the return to the dead mythology and types of social and cultural life, - this all is over in the near future."
Addressing his supporters, Kurginyan also stressed that this did not happen due to "between others thanks to our modest efforts."
He is the author and the host of the "anti show" program "The essence of time", published since February 2, 2011 on the video-hosting service
Vimeo
Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...
, the site of the Experimental Creative Center and the site of the virtual club "The essence of time".
The program, among other things, says the idea of the messianic role of Russia in the modern world.
Since August 2011 he is co-host (along with
Nicholas Svanidze) of the project "The historical process" on TV "
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
."
Kurginyan wrote many political books such as "Field of the response action", "Russian question", "Post-restructing", "Seventh Scenario","Weakness of power", "Swing", "Esau and Jacob", "Theory and practice of political games", "Radical Islam", "Political Tsunami".
In July 2014, during the
war in Donbass
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...
, Kurginyan accused
Igor Girkin
Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin ( rus, И́горь Все́володович Ги́ркин, p=ˈiɡərʲ ˈfsʲevələdəvʲɪdʑ ˈɡʲirkʲɪn; born 17 December 1970), also known by the alias Igor Ivanovich Strelkov ( rus, И́горь Ива́ ...
(Strelkov) of
surrendering Sloviansk and not keeping his oath to die in Sloviansk.
Kurginyan believes that surrendering Sloviansk is a war crime, and Strelkov should be responsible for that.
Donbass insurgent
Pavel Gubarev
Pavel Yuryevich Gubarev (russian: Па́вел Ю́рьевич Гу́барев, ; or Pavlo Yuriyovych Hubariev uk, Павло Юрійович Губарєв; born 10 February 1983) is a Russian activist who proclaimed himself the "People's ...
whacked Kurginyan in the face, and another Donbass insurgent
Alexander Borodai
Alexander Yurevich Borodai ( rus, Алекса́ндр Ю́рьевич Борода́й, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr ˈjʉrʲjɪvʲɪdʑ bərɐˈdaj; uk, Олександр Юрійович Бородай; born July 25, 1972) is a Russian member of the ...
promised to shoot Kurginyan to death. According to
Aleksandr Dugin
Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin ( rus, Александр Гельевич Дугин; born 7 January 1962) is a Russian political philosopher, analyst, and strategist, who has been widely characterized as a fascist.
Born into a military intelligen ...
, Kurginyan is a traitor and is working for
oligarchs
Oligarch may refer to:
Authority
* Oligarch, a member of an oligarchy, a power structure where control resides in a small number of people
* Oligarch (Kingdom of Hungary), late 13th–14th centuries
* Business oligarch, wealthy and influential bu ...
,
Yukos
OJSC "Yukos Oil Company" (russian: ОАО Нефтяна́я Компа́ния Ю́КОС, links=no, ) was an oil and gas company based in Moscow, Russia. Yukos was acquired from the Russian government by Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovs ...
and
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.
In the words of journalist
Alexander Nevzorov
Alexander Glebovich Nevzorov (russian: Алекса́ндр Гле́бович Невзо́ров; born on 3 August 1958) is a Russian (since 2022, also Ukrainian) television journalist, film director and a former member of the Russian State D ...
, if we had had Kurginyan and Dugin instead of Putin, "there would have been hell for all of us to pay, they would have unleashed a European and World War without a shadow of a doubt, without considering consequences at all".
But "Dugin and Kurginyan do not have the slightest impact on what is going on in the Kremlin and do not even get coaching there".
References
External links
*
*
*
Transcripts of the tv-show of "The court of time"
;Other
All interviews of Sergei Kurginyan on the radio«
Echo of Moscow
Echo of Moscow (russian: links=no, Эхо Москвы, translit=Ekho Moskvy) was a 24/7 commercial Russian radio station based in Moscow. It broadcast in many Russian cities, some of the former Soviet republics (through partnerships with local ra ...
»
All interviews of Sergei Kurginyan on the radio«Russian News Service»
Interviews of Sergei Kurginyan on the radio«Finam FM»
* Сергей Черняховски
Strategist of the left Search
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurginyan, Sergey
1949 births
Living people
Writers from Moscow
Russian people of Armenian descent
Russian bloggers
Russian geophysicists
Russian political scientists
Soviet theatre directors
Defenders of the White House (1993)
Pro-Russian people of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine