Gennady Gudkov

Gennady Vladimirovich Gudkov
Gennady Gudkov at rally in Moscow, 15 March 2014
Personal details
Born	(1956-08-15) August 15, 1956 (age 60) Kolomna, Moscow Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Russian
Political party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1979-1991) People's Party of the Russian Federation (2004—2007) A Just Russia (2006—2013) Alliance of Greens and Social Democrats (2014-present)
Children	Dmitry and Vladimir
Alma mater	Kolomna State Pedagogical Institute (1978)
Occupation	politician, businessman
Known for	opposition to Vladimir Putin, expulsion from State Duma
Military service
Allegiance	Soviet Union  Russia
Service/branch	Committee for State Security (KGB) Federal Security Service (FSB)
Rank	Lieutenant colonel

Gennady Vladimirovich Gudkov (Russian: Генна́дий Влади́мирович Гудко́в; b. 15 August 1956 in Kolomna, Moscow Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union) is a Russian politician and businessman. The Moscow Times described him in 2012 as "one of parliament's most vocal and charismatic critics" of President Vladimir Putin.

Gudkov received a degree in languages from Kolomna State Pedagogical Institute in 1978. He joined the KGB, the Soviet Union's national security agency, in 1981, working there for the next decade and finishing at the rank of lieutenant colonel. He later held a post in the Federal Security Service until 2001.

Gudkov was first elected to the State Duma in a by-election of the Kolomna 106th District on 18 March 2001, joining the People's Party of the Russian Federation. Gudkov won the seat again in the 2003 and 2007 legislative elections.

Gudkov was serving as deputy chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Security during the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis, in which 40-50 Chechen Islamist separatists took over a theater holding 850 people. He blamed the failure of security forces to prevent the attack on a systematic destruction of state security institutions following the fall of the Soviet Union. In 2004, he denied allegations that Russia was responsible for the death of former Chechen president Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, stating that the KGB's overseas assassination squad had long been disbanded.