Yury Afanasyev

Yury Nikolayevich Afanasyev (also spelled Yuri Afanasiev; Russian: Юрий Николаевич Афанасьев; 5 September 1934 – 14 September 2015) was a Soviet/Russian historian and one of the leaders of Russia's democratic movement in the late 1980s – early 1990s. He was also the rector of the Moscow State Institute of History and Archives which he transformed in 1991 into the Russian State University of Humanities (RSUH) and led until 2003, making it into one of Russia's most internationally prominent educational institutions.