Vladimir Purishkevich

Vladimir Mitrofanovich Purishkevich (Russian: Владимир Митрофанович Пуришкевич; IPA: [pʊrʲɪˈʂkʲevʲɪt͡ɕ]; 24 August [O.S. 12 August] 1870, Kishinev – 1 February 1920, Novorossiysk, Russia), was a right-wing politician in Imperial Russia, noted for his monarchist, ultra-nationalist, antisemitic and anticommunist views. Because of his restless behaviour, he was regarded as a loose cannon. At the end of 1916, he participated in the killing of Grigori Rasputin.

Born as the son of a poor nobleman Bessarabia, now Moldova, Purishkevich graduated from Novorossiysk University with a degree in classical philology. Around 1900, he moved to Saint Petersburg. He became a member of the Russian Assembly group and was appointed under Vyacheslav von Plehve.

During the Russian Revolution of 1905, he helped organise the Black Hundreds as a militia to aid the police in the fight against left-wing extremists and to restore order. After the October Manifesto, he was one of the founders of the Union of the Russian People and its deputy chairman. Following a disagreement with Alexander Dubrovin on the influence of the State Duma, he founded his own organisation, the Union of the Archangel Michael, in 1908.