1990 Assassination attempt on Mikhail Gorbachev

25 years ago, on November 7, 1990, during a festive demonstration on Red Square, mechanic Alexander Shmonov shot at Mikhail Gorbachev with a sawn-off hunting rifle from a distance of 47 meters. He considered Gorbachev guilty of establishing a totalitarian regime in the USSR, as well as of murders at a rally in Tbilisi on April 9, 1989, and during pogroms in Baku on January 20, 1990. At the last moment, senior police sergeant Andrei Mylnikov managed to hit the barrel, and both bullets missed. A note was found on the terrorist: "In case of my death, I inform you that I wanted to try to kill the President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev."

After a year in prison, Shmonov was declared mentally ill and sent to a psychiatric hospital for four years. In 1999, he tried to run for the State Duma in one of the St. Petersburg districts, but was not registered.