Sherig-ool Dizizhikovich Oorzhak (, ; born July 24, 1942), is a Russian retired politician. He was the leader of

Tuva Tuva (; ) or Tyva (; ), officially the Republic of Tyva,; , is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. Tuva lies at the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The republic borders the Federal subjects of Russia, federal sub ...

for 21 years, from 1986 to 2007.

Life

Oorzhak graduated from the Timiryazev Moscow Agricultural academy in 1971. From 1971 until 1980, he worked as an economist at and later the director of a government-owned farm (

sovkhoz A sovkhoz ( rus, совхо́з, p=sɐfˈxos, a=ru-sovkhoz.ogg, syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated from , ''sovetskoye khozyaystvo''; ) was a form of state-owned farm or agricultural enterprise in the Soviet Union. It is usually contrasted w ...

) in his hometown of . In 1983 he became an activist in the Tuvan branch of the Communist Party. He graduated from Novosibirsk High Communist Party School in 1985. From December 1986 he was First Secretary in the Tuvan branch of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

, making him Tuva's de facto leader. He was a three-time deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Tuva Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. From 1990 to 1992 he was Chairman of the

Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

(i.e. Prime Minister) of

Tuva ASSR The Tuvan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (; ), or the Tuvan ASSR (; ), was an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR. It was created on 10 October 1961 from the Tuvan Autonomous Oblast. Its territory measured 175,000 square kilometers a ...

. In 1990 he was elected people's deputy of

RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

. In August 1991 he was defeated by

Kaadyr-ool Bicheldei Kaadyr-ool Alexeyevich Bicheldey (, ; born January 2, 1950) is a Russian philologist and politician of Tuvan descent.

in the race for Chairman of the

Supreme Soviet The Supreme Soviet () was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). These soviets were modeled after the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, establ ...

. On March 15, 1992 he was elected to be President of the

Republic of Tuva Tuva (; ) or Tyva (; ), officially the Republic of Tyva,; , is a republic of Russia. Tuva lies at the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The republic borders the federal subjects of the Altai Republic, Buryatia, Irkutsk O ...

. In 1993 he was the head of the Constitutional Commission of

(the Constitution was adopted on October 21, 1993). In 1997 he was re-elected as president. According to the Tuvan constitution, Tuva was "an independent state in association with Russia" and could "declare war and sign international agreements of its own will". During the revision of Russian regional constitutions in 2000, these phrases were removed from the document. The political career of Oorzhak became uncertain after this, leading him to demonstrate his allegiance to the Kremlin by appointing Sergei Pugachev and Lyudmila Narusova to the

Federation Council The Federation Council, unofficially Senate, is the upper house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, with the lower house being the State Duma. It was established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993. Each of the 89 federal s ...

as representatives of Tuva. In 2001, the newly adopted Tuvan constitution eliminated the position of President, replacing it with the title Head of Republic, enabling Oorzhak to avoid the two-term limit enforced on the president. On March 17, 2002, with 53% of the vote, he was elected as Head of the Republic and changed his title from President to Head of Republic. He resigned from his position on April 6, 2007 and

Sholban Kara-ool Sholban Valeryevich Kara-ool (, ; born 18 July 1966) is a Russian politician of Tuvan ethnic origins. He was the Head of the Republic of Tuva, a Russian republic, from 2007 to 2021. Biography Kara-ool was born into an ethnic Tuvan family on ...

was appointed in his place.

Honours and awards

Order of Merit for the Fatherland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * ...

, 3rd class (9 April 2007) - "for services to the state and many years of honest work" * Order of Honour (2002) *

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds and efforts have been aimed at ...

(1997)

External links

Interview with Oorzhak
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oorzhak, Sherig-Ool 1942 births Living people People from Tuva Tuvan people Heads of the Republic of Tuva Members of the Federation Council of Russia (1994–1996) Members of the Federation Council of Russia (1996–2000) Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Honour (Russia)