36 Facts About Nikolai Ryzhkov

Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov is a former Soviet, and later Russian, politician.

Nikolai Ryzhkov served as the last Chairman of the Council of Ministers.

Responsible for the cultural and economic administration of the Soviet Union during the Gorbachev Era, Ryzhkov was succeeded as premier by Valentin Pavlov in 1991.

Nikolai Ryzhkov is the last surviving Premier of the Soviet Union, following the death of Ivan Silayev on 8 February 2023.

Nikolai Ryzhkov was born in the city of Shcherbynivka, Ukrainian SSR in 1929.

In 1979 Nikolai Ryzhkov was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Committee.

Nikolai Ryzhkov was born to Russian parents on 28 September 1929 in Dzerzhynsk, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union.

Nikolai Ryzhkov graduated from the Ural Polytechnic Institute in 1959.

Nikolai Ryzhkov joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1956.

Nikolai Ryzhkov was transferred to Moscow in 1975 and appointed to the post of First Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Heavy and Transport Machine Building.

Nikolai Ryzhkov became First Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Committee in 1979 and was elected to the CPSU Central Committee in 1981.

Nikolai Ryzhkov was one of several members of the Soviet leadership affiliated to the "Andrei Kirilenko faction".

Nikolai Ryzhkov became convinced that had Andropov lived at least another five years, the Soviet Union would have seen a reform package similar to that implemented in the People's Republic of China.

When Gorbachev left the ASSR, Nikolai Ryzhkov remained to coordinate the rescue operation and made several television appearances which increased his standing amongst the Soviet leadership and the people in general.

Nikolai Ryzhkov was an early supporter of the Gorbachev policy calling for an increase in the quantity and quality of goods planned for production during the period of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan.

Nikolai Ryzhkov now wanted to increase overall investment in nearly all industrial sectors; a move which Ryzhkov knew was a budgetary impossibility.

Gorbachev and Ligachev's anti-alcohol campaign was opposed by Nikolai Ryzhkov, who agreed with the State Planning Committee and the Ministry of Trade that such a drive would deprive from the state billions of roubles in income.

Nikolai Talyzin, Chairman of the State Planning Committee, became the scapegoat for the failure of this reform and on the orders of Ryzhkov he was replaced by Yuri Maslyukov.

Nevertheless, in 1986, Nikolai Ryzhkov stated that he, along with the rest of the Soviet leadership, were already discussing the possibility of creating a market economy in the Soviet Union.

Nikolai Ryzhkov supported the creation of a "regulated market economy" where the government sector occupied the "commanding heights" of the economy as well as the creation of semi private-public companies.

Nikolai Ryzhkov's economic reform plan was a hybrid of Leonid Abalkin's and one created by himself in conjunction with the Maslyukov chaired State Planning Committee along with several other government institutions.

Nikolai Ryzhkov proposed price reform measures to Gorbachev several times but was turned down on each occasions, even though Gorbachev had argued strongly on the need for price reform in his speeches.

Gorbachev strengthened his public image by accusing the Soviet leadership's conservative faction together with Nikolai Ryzhkov, of delaying implementation of the necessary price reform.

Nikolai Ryzhkov had the backing of several high-standing institutions, such as the Ministry of Finance and the State Committee on Prices, chaired by the future Soviet Premier Valentin Pavlov.

In contrast to Gorbachev, Nikolai Ryzhkov actually had, according to Hough, a plan for a transition to a market economy.

Several conference delegates agreed with Gorbachev, but Nikolai Ryzhkov's support remained solid.

Nikolai Ryzhkov was then forced to create an even more conservative reform plan for 1989 in which price reform was to be postponed until 1991.

In July 1990, as the Politburo underwent restructuring at the 28th Party Congress, all government officials except Gorbachev and Vladimir Ivashko, the Deputy General Secretary, were excluded with Nikolai Ryzhkov losing his Politburo seat by default.

The parliamentary Interregional Group's vote of no confidence in Nikolai Ryzhkov's government failed, with 199 members in favour of Nikolai Ryzhkov and his cabinet's resignation, 1,685 against and 99 abstaining.

Nikolai Ryzhkov placed more than forty points behind Boris Yeltsin, who won the election.

In 1996, Nikolai Ryzhkov was one of the founders of the CPRF-led alliance of leftists and nationalists known as the People's Patriotic Union of Russia and was elected chairman of its Duma faction.

The NPSR's formal leaders were Nikolai Ryzhkov and Zyuganov, who was an unofficial leader.

In September 2003, Nikolai Ryzhkov entered the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation as the representative for Belgorod Oblast, subsequently resigning his seat in the State Duma.

On March 17,2014, Nikolai Ryzhkov was added to the European Union sanctions list due to his role in the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.

Nikolai Ryzhkov is barred from entering EU countries, and his assets in the EU have been frozen.

Nikolai Ryzhkov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour twice, in 1966 and 1985, the Order of the October Revolution in 1971, the Order of Lenin in 1976 and 1979 and the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 4th class.