Stepan Lianozov

Stepan Georgievich Lianozov was born in Moscow on 9 August 1872. Lianozov's father, Gevorg Lianozov (1835–1906), came from an Armenian family that was deported from Eastern Armenia by the Persian Shah Abbas the Great in 1604. Gevorg Lianozov along with his brother Stepan were well-known figures in the production of caviar from the Caspian Sea, and would ultimately inherit the oil business that his father's brother Stepan had been engaged in since 1872.

After Stepan Lianozov, Gevorg's son, graduated from high school, he entered the school of Natural Sciences of the University of Moscow. Four years thereafter, Lianozov changed his career to law graduating in 1898 from the Faculty of Law at Moscow State University and becoming an assistant to a magistrate in the court chamber of Moscow. In 1901, Stepan gave up his rights to the caviar business that he inherited from his father and allowed his two brothers, Martin and Levon to take control of that industry. Stepan then fully dedicated himself to the lucrative oil business.

Lianozov diversified some of his investment into the new Russian film industry. In the spring of 1914, Lianozov and the Mantashov brothers invested heavily in a new film company founded by photographer and chemist Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky called Biochrome. The company had its headquarters in one of Lianozov's properties in Moscow. This building would eventually become the State Committee for Cinematography during the Soviet era. The company filmed several movies including “No Exit,” “The God of Revenge,” “The Eternal Tale of Life.” However, in 1918, the filming ended abruptly due to a fire that burnt the movie sets.

After World War I, with the continued success of his businesses, Lianozov became an activist in the political world as he entered politics and participated in the civil war that ensued. While in Finland, Lianozov brought together members of the White Army in a meeting in May 1919. In this meeting, the White Army wanted to create a republic called the Regional Government of Northwest Russia, a self-proclaimed republic located in today's Estonia. Lianozov took positions in the ministry and was also designated the head of the government. Other participants of the formation of the republic included General Nikolai Yudenich, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak, and Anton Denikin who took became ministers of war and took positions as generals in the newly formed army. Lianozov's first move in the political arena was to recognize the independence of Estonia on 11 August 1919 and then Latvia on the 3rd of September and Finland on the 23rd of the same year. He also issued currency in the form of rubles in which Yudenich had signed. Yudenich then spearheaded an offensive upon St. Petersburg which ultimately sparked the dissolution of the Northwest Republic and prompted Lianozov to flee to Paris.