Sergei Soldatov (24. June 1933 Narva – 24. January 2003 Tallinn) was one of the founders of Anti-Sovietism, anti-Soviet Soviet dissidents, dissident movement in Estonia. Soldatov was born into a History of Russians in Estonia, Russian Estonian family, he finished high school in Jõhvi and the Leningrad University of Technology. He worked in a number of factories in Tallinn and became a lecturer at the Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn Polytechnic Institute. In early 1970s, Soldatov participated in dissident organisation Estonian Democratic Movement and was editor of underground newspapers. Among others, he cooperated with Tunne Kelam. As an ethnic Russian, Soldatov also had connections with dissident circles in Russia, and was one of the authors of the programme of the Democratic Movement of the Soviet Union in Russian. Hiding himself underground since the 1974 arrest of Kalju Mätik, Mati Kiirend and Artjom Juskevitš, the KGB managed to arrest him in 1975. Soldatov was imprisoned in prison camps of Mordovia for six years. Soon after being released in 1981, he and his wife Lyudmila were expelled from the USSR. They settled in West Germany, where Sergei (thanks to Alexander Solzhenitsyn's recommendation) got the job of journalist for the Radio Liberty. For many years, he arranged broadcasts in Estonian language, Estonian. Sergei Soldatov remained critical of the developments in post-Soviet Estonia, where he returned to in 2000. He died in Tallinn and was buried at the Alexander Nevsky Cemetery, Tallinn.

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External links

A webpage dedicated to Sergei Soldatov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soldatov, Sergei 1933 births 2003 deaths People from Narva Estonian dissidents Soviet dissidents Estonian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of the Soviet Union Academic staff of the Tallinn University of Technology Estonian people of Russian descent