  vladimir l'vovich burtsev (; november 17, 1862 &ndash; august 21, 1942), was a revolutionary activist, scholar, publisher and editor of several russian language periodicals. he became famous by exposing a great number of agents provocateurs, notably yevno azef in 1908. because of his own revolutionary activities and his harsh criticism of the imperial regime, including personal criticism of emperor nicholas ii, he was imprisoned several times in various european countries. in the course of his life, burtsev fought oppressive policies from tsarism in imperial russia, followed by the bolsheviks and later adolf hitler's national socialism. == early life (1862 - 1886)== burtsev was born in fort perovsky (today kyzylorda in kazakhstan) to a military family. in 1882, he was expelled from saint petersburg state university and in 1885 from kazan state university for taking part in student disturbances. as a member of narodnaya volya, he was imprisoned for two years (for about a year in the peter and paul fortress) and in 1886 exiled to the irkutsk region of eastern siberia. == exile and publications (1888 - 1914) == in 1888 burtsev managed to escape from exile and emigrate to switzerland. in 1889 he co-founded magazine "Ð¡Ð²Ð¾Ð±Ð¾Ð´Ð½Ð°Ñ Ð Ð¾ÑÑÐ¸Ñ" (free russia) but it survived only three issues. "in 1890 . . . burtsev, wanted by the czarist police, boarded a british boat bound from constantinople to london. when the ship found itself surrounded by turkish police vessels with russians on board, the captain refused their demand to hand over the fugitive, announcing: âthis is english territory. and i am a gentleman!âdoherty, brian (2010-12-17) the first war on terror, reason in 1898, burtsev was arrested by british police for advocating, in his magazine "ÐÐ°ÑÐ¾Ð´Ð¾Ð²Ð¾Ð»ÐµÑ" (narodnaya volya comrade), the assassination of nicholas ii. burtsev was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months at hard labour. on his release he went on to publish it in switzerland, resulting in his permanent ban from that country. in london, 
1862_births 1942_deaths Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion Russian_journalists Russian_revolutionaries Saint_Petersburg_State_University_alumni