Oleg Semyonovich Shenin (Russian: Олег Семёнович Шенин; July 2, 1937 – May 28, 2009[1]) was the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Shenin), which should not be confused with the larger UCP-CPSU.
Shenin was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union; he was also a member of the Politburo and Secretariat from 1990 to 1991. During the Soviet coup attempt of 1991, he was a member of the group of CPSU CC members who tried to regain control of the country in order to re-establish the Soviet Union.[2] He was later jailed for taking part in the events. He was given amnesty in 1994.[3]
Shenin was founding Chairman of the Union of Communist Parties - Communist Party of the Soviet Union (UCP-CPSU) from 1993, until he broke away from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) in 2001, after its leader Gennady Zyuganov refused to back the creation of a united Communist Party of Russia and Belarus.[4] Zyuganov then succeeded Shenin as Chairman of the UCP-CPSU.
He was considered to be a hardline Communist. In September 1997, he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang.
Oleg Shenin registered as a presidential candidate for the 2008 presidential election but he was denied registration for failing to complete some paperwork correctly.[5] According to Shenin, his candidacy was rejected because he did not provide a letter from his employer; he described this as an "idiotic pretext" because he had been retired for years.[6]