Viktor Alksnis

Viktor Imantovich Alksnis (Russian: Виктор Имантович Алкснис, Latvian: Viktors Alksnis; 21 June 1950 – 1 January 2025) was a Russian politician and Soviet Air Force colonel of Latvian descent. He was the chairman of the Russian Center of Free Technologies, an organization intended to promote Free Software and open standards in Russia. He was a member of the USSR Supreme Soviet, a member of the Russian All-People's Union and also represented the Rodina (Motherland-National Patriotic Union) party in the Russian State Duma. From 2003 to 2007, he represented the People's Union party in the Fourth Duma. From 2013 to 2015, Alksnis was the mayor of the city of Tuchkovo in the Moscow Oblast. Due to his political views and personal style, Alksnis was nicknamed "the Black Colonel", an allusion to the Soviet term "Black Colonels" (Russian: Чёрные полковники) for the Greek military junta of 1967–1974.