Semyon Vasilyevich Rudniev (Russian: Семён Васи́льевич Ру́днев; Ukrainian: Семе́н Васи́льович Ру́днєв, romanized: Semen Vasyliovych Rudniev) (February 27, 1899 – August 4, 1943) was one of the leaders of Soviet partisan movement during World War II and People's Commissar in the partisan group operating in Ukraine and led by Sydir Kovpak.

[citation needed] As a teenager Rudniev moved to Saint-Petersburg and became an apprentice carpenter at the Russo-Balt Factory.

On 7 February 1938, he was arrested by the NKVD[3] and in May 1939 charged with committing crimes under Article 58 of the RSFSR Penal Code, which carried the death penalty.

He quickly gained respect among partisan fighters and remained Kovpak's commissar while their initially small group rose into a large well-organized formation raiding the rear of the Axis occupants.

[2] According to official sources, Rudniev, recovering from a wound, committed gunshot suicide in a sudden German attack, in order to not be taken alive.

[4] On 4 January 1944, Rudniev was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin for bravery in the partisan battles.

[7] After the fall of the Soviet Union, some historians began questioning the official version of Rudniev's life and death.

Some studies[9] suggest that Rudniev might have been assassinated by his personal radio operator, Anna Turkina (a woman trained in Moscow) by a direct order from Siromolotnyi.

However, according to deputy head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance Dmitry Vedeneyev, this version of events is untrue.