Stephan Khalturin

Infobox Person
name=Stephan Khalturin


caption=Stephan Khalturin, Russian Revolutionary
birth_date=1857
birth_place=Vyatka, Russia
death_date=March, 1882
death_place=Odessa, Ukraine

Stephan Khalturin was a Russian Revolutionary, member of Narodnaya Volya (the People's Will) and responsible for an attempted assassination of Alexander II of Russia.

Early life

Khalturin was born 1857 in Vyatka, Russia. The son of a peasant he became a carpenter, employed in several factories in St. Petersberg.

Revolutionary life

Khalturin became involved in revolutionary politics, joining Narodnaya Volya (the People's Will). In 1880 He found work at the Winter Palace allowing him to sleep on the premises; this allowed him to bring in packets of dynamite each day, concealing it in his room, within his bedding.

Under the orders of the Narodnaya Volya, Khalturin constructed a mine on February 17, 1880 in the basement of the building under the dining-room. The mine was set to go off at the time which Narodnaya Volya had calculated the Tsar to be having dinner. Unfortunately for the assassins, Alexander II's guest Prince Alexander of Battenberg arrived late, delaying dinner so the dining-room was empty. The Tsar was thus able to escape assassination unharmed though 67 people were killed or badly wounded by the explosion.

After the failed assassination, Khalturin escaped to Odessa where on March, 1882 he was captured and executed while engaging in further assassination plots.