The fate of F. P. Russkov, director of the Tulun State Breeding Station, in the context of political repressions of the 1930s

Relevance . Nowadays there is a great interest in repressed person’s fate studying in Soviet period. Such studies gain particular value in the context of restoring historical justice and preserving the memory of people whose lives were ruined by political repressions. The purpose is to study comprehensively both biography and a professional activity of the repressed Tulun State Breeding Station director F.P. Russkov and also to analyze his arrest's reasons and conviction in the repression period 1930. The research is intended not only to reconstruct the life path of a specific individual, but also to demonstrate how large-scale political processes affected the fates of individual specialists. Objectives : to restore Fyodor Pavlovich Russkov biography (one of the heads of the Tulun State Breeding Station). Methodology . As a methodological basis the author relied on the objective historical principles. The author used chronological, ideographic (narrative) and biographical as the special historical methods. Results . A comprehensive study based on archival and printed sources allowed us to restore Tulun State Breeding Station director biography Fyodor Pavlovich Russkov. The key stages of his professional path were identified, his contribution to the development of plant breeding activities in the region was determined, and the circumstances of his arrest, investigation, and sentencing were reconstructed in detail. Conclusion . Russkov's fate is a typical way of a talented leader who had become a political repression victim. His case demonstrates that even highly qualified professionals who made a significant contribution to the development of their field were not protected from the arbitrariness of the punitive authorities. Studying repressed activists' fates is very important for preservation of historical memory and preventing similar events in the future.