Xerox affair

This article is part of a series about Boris Yeltsin
Early life Presidency Yeltsinism CPSU membership 26th 27th Politburo 26th 27th Central Committee 28th Congress Elections 1991 campaign 1996 campaign (Vote or lose) Loans for shares Semibankirschina Soskovets campaign strategy Xerox affair First term 1st inauguration Gaidar Cabinet August Coup 1st Chernomyrdin Cabinet Constitutional conference 1993 crisis 1st Chechen War International trips ("Circling over Shannon" diplomatic incident) Second term 2nd inauguration Ruble crisis 2nd Chechen War Resignation International trips Post-Presidency Presidential Center Presidential Library Illness Death and state funeral Media gallery
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The Xerox affair was a Russian political controversy that took place during the second round of the 1996 Russian presidential election. The controversy stems from the June 19 detention of two staffers of President Boris Yeltsin's reelection campaign outside of the Russian White House.^[1] Security agents discovered $500,000 in a Xerox (from which the scandal takes it name) copy-paper box that was being carried by one of the men.^[2] It was soon discovered that the staffers had been arrested and interrogated at the behest of Mikhail Barsukov and Alexander Korzhakov, both of whom were members of Yeltsin's campaign organization and presidential administration.^[1][2]

The scandal, which occurred only two days after the conclusion of the initial round of the Russian presidential election (and approximately two weeks before the second round), resulted in the dismissal of Korzhakov and Barsukov from their roles in Yeltsin's presidential administration and campaign organization, as well as the dismissal of their political ally, Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets.^[3]