BAKLANOV, OLEG DMITRIEVICH

A top Soviet official involved in the development of the country’s nuclear missile shield

BALTIC STATES

This term (R. Pribaltika, literally meaning “Near the Baltic” or “By the Baltic”) is generally taken to mean Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Geographically speaking, the RF Kalinigrad Region (formerly East Prussia) is also sometimes included.

BASAEV, SHAMIL SALMANOVICH

Shamil Basaev was among the most prominent and odious leaders of the rebellion against federal authority in Chechnya. In 1995-2006, he was one of the heads of the self-styled Chechen Republic of Ichkeria – a quasi-state built entirely on the “principle” of brigandage in Islamist disguise.

BASHKORTOSTAN

An RF constituent entity; an ethnic republic within the Russian Federation located on both sides of the Europe-Asia divide. Its capital Ufa (population 1,091,400) was founded in 1586.

BATURINA, YELENA NIKOLAEVNA

Russia’s only female billionaire; wife of Moscow’s Mayor Yuri Luzhkov; president of close joint-stock company Inteko, Moscow.

BELARUS

A state in Eastern Europe. From 1920 to 1991, its official name was the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR), but it was usually referred to by its historical name Belorussia (Belaya Rus, White Russia).

BELKOVSKY, STANISLAV ALEXANDROVICH

Director general of the National Strategy Council, chief editor of apn.ru.

BELOVEZHYE ACCORDS

The Belovezhye Accords clinched the dissolution of the USSR and started the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

BEREZOVSKY, BORIS ABRAMOVICH

One of Russia’s more prominent “oligarchs” in the 1990s; currently a fugitive from Russian justice based in the UK that granted him political asylum. The media like abbreviating his full name to BAB.

BOBKOV, PHILIP DENISOVICH

General of the Army, one of the top KGB officers responsible for combating ‘ideological subversion” in the later period of the Soviet Union’s existence.

BOKERIA, LEO

Famous Russian doctor. Full member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, director of the Bakulev Research Center for Cardiovascular Surgery, chief heart surgeon of the RF Health and Social Development Ministry, president of the Health of the Nation League, member of the RF Public Chamber where he chairs the Healthy Life commission.

BOLSHEVIK

A member of the left, radical wing among Russian Social Democrats, a follower of the prevalent Russian version of Marxist ideology. That ideology was immensely popular among 19th-century European intellectuals, and little by little it spread to Russia.