Viktor Alekseyevich Popkov (russian: Ви́ктор Алексе́евич Попко́в; June 17, 1946 – June 2, 2001) was a Russian

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...

human rights activist A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing camp ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. A deeply religious

Old Believer Old Believers or Old Ritualists, ''starovery'' or ''staroobryadtsy'' are Eastern Orthodox Christians who maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian Orthodox Church as they were before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow be ...

and

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaig ...

, Popkov taught

non-violence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

, and spent the last 15 years of his life in conflict areas of the collapsing

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, including the

Abkhaz–Georgian conflict The Abkhaz–Georgian conflict involves ethnic conflict between Georgians and the Abkhaz people in Abkhazia, a ''de facto'' independent, partially recognized republic. In a broader sense, one can view the Georgian–Abkhaz conflict as part of ...

, the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, and the

Chechen Wars Chechen War may refer to: * Chechen–Russian conflict, 1785–2017 * Caucasian War, 1817–1864 * Murid War, 1829–1859, a.k.a. Russian Conquest of Chechnya and Dagestan * 1940–44 insurgency in Chechnya * First Chechen War The First Chec ...

. Popkov died on June 2, 2001, after being shot during a

drive-by shooting A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrator(s) to quickly strike their target and flee the scene before ...

while working as an

aid worker Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance to people who need help. It is usually short-term help until the long-term help by the government and other institutions replaces it. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and v ...

in Chechnya days earlier.

Early life and activism

Viktor Alekseyevich Popkov was born on 17 June 1946, in

Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in south ...

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

. Popkov spent much of his childhood in the Azerbaijan SSR, as his parents worked in the

Zagatala State Reserve Zagatala State Nature Reserve ( az, Zaqatala Dövlət Qoruğu) - is a reserve in the Zagatala and Balakan districts of Azerbaijan. It was established in 1929 in the middle part of the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasus Mountains in the te ...

. Popkov studied physics 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 ...

but left without graduating, instead becoming a journalist and a

seismologist Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and west ...

. In 1979 he married Tatyana Lebedeva.

Caucasus activity

In 1992, Popkov founded and then led the

interdenominational Interdenominationalism is an evangelical Protestant movement of cooperation among various Christian denominations. History The movement has its origins in the founding of the London Missionary Society, a missionary society, in 1795 by variou ...

and inter-ethnic human rights group Omega, set up to promote dialogue between different ethnicities and

religious denomination A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name and tradition among other activities. The term refers to the various Christian denominations (for example, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and the many var ...

s in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. He also joined the

Memorial Human Rights Center Memorial ( rus, Мемориал, p=mʲɪmərʲɪˈaɫ) is an international human rights organisation, founded in Russia during the fall of the Soviet Union to study and examine the human rights violations and other crimes committed under J ...

, a leading Russian human rights group, and worked as a

freelance journalist ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance ...

for the oppositionist newspaper '' Novaya Gazeta''. Popkov later led a peace march in

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which v ...

, delivered food to the starving town of Tkvarcheli besieged by the Georgian forces, and helped save many people from

summary execution A summary execution is an execution in which a person is accused of a crime and immediately killed without the benefit of a Right to a fair trial, full and fair trial. Executions as the result of summary offense, summary justice (such as a drumhea ...

after the fall of Sukhum. Popkov began working in Chechnya in 1995 during the First Chechen War, where he helped negotiate the release of dozens of civilian

hostage A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized, such as a relative, employer, law enforcement or government to act, or ref ...

s and

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

(including a

Russian Army The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска �ВSukhoputnyye voyska V}), also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces ...

general), and was a frequent visitor to

Grozny Grozny ( rus, Грозный, p=ˈgroznɨj; ce, Соьлжа-ГӀала, translit=Sölƶa-Ġala), also spelled Groznyy, is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2010 census, it had a po ...

during the heavy fighting, where he helped release some of the Russian prisoners of war held in the Presidential Palace in Grozny just before the Russian bombing in 1995. In the aftermath of the war, he delivered humanitarian aid to

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s and documented atrocities, and during the

Second Chechen War The Second Chechen War (russian: Втора́я чече́нская война́, ) took place in Chechnya and the border regions of the North Caucasus between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, from August 1999 ...

he filmed the aftermath of the

Novye Aldi massacre The Novye Aldi massacre was a massacre in which Russian federal forces summarily executed dozens of people in the Novye Aldi (Aldy) suburb of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, in the course of a "mopping-up" (''zachistka'') operation conducte ...

in 2000. In 1999 he conducted a 40-day

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

in protest at the renewed war in Chechnya. Afterwards, he became involved in attempts to restore contacts between Chechen Republic President

Aslan Maskhadov Aslan (Khalid) Aliyevich Maskhadov (russian: Асла́н (Хали́д) Али́евич Масха́дов; ce, Масхадан Али-воӀ Аслан (Халид), Masxadan Ali-voj Aslan (Xalid); 21 September 1951 – 8 March 2005) was ...

and the Russian federal authorities. During the

, Popkov often was arbitrarily detained by the security forces and his humanitarian activities were severely hindered by the Russian military. He was also frequently detained and threatened by some of the Chechen field commanders.

Death

On 2 June 2001, Popkov was

assassinated Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

near the village of Alkhan-Kala, Chechnya, while delivering medical supplies to civilians after a battle had recently taken place there. His ambulance was ambushed in the vicinity of a Russian Army

checkpoint Checkpoint may refer to: Places * Border checkpoint, a place on the land border between two states where travellers and/or goods are inspected * Security checkpoint, erected and enforced within contiguous areas under military or paramilitary co ...

by masked gunmen in a Lada car, who opened fire with an automatic weapon and then drove away. The attackers were said to be Chechen

Islamic fundamentalists Islamic fundamentalism has been defined as a puritanical, revivalist, and reform movement of Muslims who aim to return to the founding scriptures of Islam. Islamic fundamentalists are of the view that Muslim-majority countries should return t ...

in collusion with the Russian forces, and in 2002 Memorial pinpointed them to be members of an armed group led by the notorious warlord

Arbi Barayev Arbi Alautdinovich Barayev ( ce, Арби Алаутдинович Бараев; 27 May 1974 – 22 June 2001) was a Chechen warlord and terrorist, who in 1996 became the founder and first leader of the Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SP ...

. Popkov's condition was irreversibly aggravated when the troops at the checkpoint held him, his driver, and a Chechen doctor Rosa Muzarova (all of whom suffered serious injuries in the attack and were heavily bleeding) for reportedly one to three hours following the shooting. By the time the wounded were taken to Hospital No. 9 in Grozny, their condition was critical and Popkov was already in

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

. Viktor Popkov died in the Vishnevsky 3rd Central Military Clinical Hospital in

Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast Krasnogorsk (russian: Красного́рск, ) is a city and the administrative center of Krasnogorsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Moskva River, adjacent to the northwestern boundary of Moscow. Population: History An ...

, without regaining

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

, leaving behind a seriously ill widow Tatyana and a disabled daughter Ulyana.

References

External links

Soviet Abkhazia 1989: Facts and Thoughts by Viktor Popkov

Appeal to the journalists and public figures who recognize the need to stop the war in Chechnya and to start political peace negotiations

Viktor Popkov 1952-2001 Russian human rights campaigner, peacemaker and negotiator in Chechnya

Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

Human rights activist shot in Chechnya

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, 21 April 2001 *
Face to faith. The peacemakers of the Caucasus must never give up
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', October 7, 2006 *
Viktor Popkov's website
*

*
Another site about Popkov
*
Russia after the elections
interview with

Vanessa Redgrave Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, two ...

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

2000 *
Who shot Viktor Popkov?
'' Novaya Gazeta'' 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Popkov, Viktor 1946 births 2001 deaths 20th-century Russian journalists 21st-century Russian journalists Assassinated activists Assassinated religious leaders Assassinated Russian journalists Deaths by firearm in Russia Journalists killed while covering the Chechen wars Memorial (society) Old Believers People from Krasnodar People murdered in Russia Russian anti-war activists Russian Christian pacifists Russian dissidents Russian human rights activists Russian humanitarians Russian male journalists Russian political activists Russian war correspondents War correspondents of the Chechen wars