Eduard Kuznetsov

Eduard Samoilovich Kuznetsov (, ; 29 January 1939 – 22 December 2024) was a Soviet-Israeli dissident, refusenik, journalist, and writer. One of the leaders of the 1970 Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair, Kuznetsov's case drew international attention following his death sentence. As a result of global protests, his sentence was commuted to fifteen years' imprisonment.

Kuznetsov was released in 1979 as part of a prisoner exchange between the Soviet Union and the United States. He subsequently made aliyah to Israel. Throughout the 1980s, he participated in the operations of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty before beginning the publication of the Russian-language Israeli newspaper Vesti in 1992. Kuznetsov is the author of three novels, two of which were written in prison and smuggled out of the country.

Kuznetsov died in Israel on 22 December 2024, at the age of 85.

Jewish activism Kuznetsov studied at the philosophy department of Moscow State University.

While at university, Kuznetsov became involved with the first unsanctioned samizdat (self-published) magazines. In 1958-61, he co-edited the underground literary journals Sintaksis and Boomerang, and helped compile the samizdat poetry anthology Phoenix. His case "opened the doors of emigration to thousands of Soviet Jews." In the 1970s, Kuznetsov shared a prison cell with Danylo Shumuk for five years.

In 1979, he and four other dissidents (Dymshits, Baptist preacher Georgi Vins, samizdat writer Alexander Ginzburg, and Ukrainian nationalist Valentyn Moroz) were exchanged for two Soviet spies arrested in the United States.

In 2005, Kuznetsov participated in "They Chose Freedom", a four-part television documentary on the history of the Soviet dissident movement. He lived in Jerusalem, Israel and was a board member of the Gratitude Fund, an organisation supplying financial aid to former Soviet dissidents.