Ruslan Khasbulatov, who led Russian parliament revolt, dies

MOSCOW (AP) — Ruslan Khasbulatov, who led a rebellion against Russia’s first post-Soviet president, has died. He was 80. Khasbulatov’s death was reported Tuesday by Russian state television. Khasbulatov, an ethnic Chechen, was elected speaker of parliament of the Russian Federation shortly before the Soviet collapse. His relations with Russia’s President Boris Yeltsin grew strained after the 1991 breakup of the USSR. In September 1993, Khasbulatov teamed up with Vice President Alexander Rutskoi to challenge Yeltsin’s leadership. Yeltsin responded by disbanding parliament, and Khasbulatov retaliated by calling a session that declared Yeltsin’s authority terminated. The crisis reached a showdown when Yeltsin sent tanks to fire on parliament and its leaders were arrested.