Oleg Shenin

Who was Oleg Shenin?

Shenin was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union; he was also a member of the Politburo and Secretariat from 1990 to 1991. During the Soviet coup attempt of 1991, he was a member of the group of CPSU CC members who tried to regain control of the country in order to re-establish the Soviet Union. He was later jailed for taking part in the events. He was given amnesty in 1994.

Shenin was founding Chairman of the Union of Communist Parties - Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1993, until he broke away from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in 2001, after its leader Gennady Zyuganov refused to back the creation of a united Communist Party of Russia and Belarus. Zyuganov then succeeded Shenin as Chairman of the UCP-CPSU.

He was considered to be a hardline Communist. In September 1997, he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang.

Oleg Shenin registered as a presidential candidate for the 2008 presidential election but he was denied registration for failing to complete some paperwork correctly. According to Shenin, his candidacy was rejected because he did not provide a letter from his employer; he described this as an "idiotic pretext" because he had been retired for years.