Former Supreme Soviet Chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov -- a close ally of Boris Yeltsin before turning against him in 1993 -- has died, state television said on Tuesday.
Khasbulatov, an ethnic Chechen, died at his home outside Moscow aged 80, the television report said. Prominent rights activist Alexander Cherkasov wrote on Facebook that Khasbulatov died Tuesday, but did not provide a cause of death.
