Riabovol, Mykola

Riabovol, Mykola [Рябовол, Микола; Rjabovol], b 17 December 1883 in Dinska stanytsia, Kuban, d 28 June 1919 in Rostov-na-Donu. Kuban Ukrainian political leader. He graduated from the Kyiv Polytechnical Institute. He served as director of the Kuban–Black Sea railroad co-operative (1911–14) and president of the Kuban Co-operative Credit Union (1918–19). He was head of the Cossack Military Council and its successor, the Kuban Territorial Council (1917–19). Riabovol favored land reforms and the creation of independent political entities out of the former Russian Empire, views that placed him in opposition to the Russian Volunteer Army, which had established its base of operation in the Kuban region. He was assassinated while attending a conference called to determine relations among the Don Cossacks, the Terek Cossack Army (see Terek region), and the Kuban Cossack Host, as well as with Anton Denikin’s army. An investigation suggested that Denikin’s army was responsible for the murder.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]