23 Facts About Viktor Chernomyrdin

1.

Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin was a Soviet and Russian politician and businessman.

2.

Viktor Chernomyrdin was the Minister of Gas Industry of the Soviet Union, after which he became first chairman of Gazprom energy company and the second-longest-serving Prime Minister of Russia based on consecutive years.

3.

Viktor Chernomyrdin was a key figure in Russian politics in the 1990s and a participant in the transition from a planned to a market economy.

4.

Viktor Chernomyrdin died on 3 November 2010 after a long illness.

5.

Viktor Chernomyrdin was born in Chernyi Otrog, Orenburg Oblast, Russian SFSR.

6.

Viktor Chernomyrdin's father was a labourer and Viktor was one of five children.

7.

Viktor Chernomyrdin completed school education in 1957 and found employment as a mechanic in an oil refinery in Orsk.

8.

Viktor Chernomyrdin worked there until 1962, except for his military service from 1957 to 1960.

9.

Viktor Chernomyrdin became a member of the CPSU in 1961.

10.

Viktor Chernomyrdin failed the maths sections of the test and had to take the exam again, getting a C Viktor Chernomyrdin got only one B, in Russian language, and Cs in the other tests.

11.

Viktor Chernomyrdin was admitted only because of very poor competition.

12.

Viktor Chernomyrdin began developing his career as a politician when he worked for the CPSU in Orsk between 1967 and 1973.

13.

Between 1978 and 1982, Viktor Chernomyrdin worked in the heavy industry arm of the CPSU Central Committee.

14.

On 14 December 1992, Viktor Chernomyrdin was confirmed by the VII Congress of People's Deputies of Russia as Prime Minister.

15.

In 1995, Viktor Chernomyrdin signed a decree calling for the development of a national strategy for tiger conservation.

16.

When Boris Yeltsin was undergoing a heart operation on 6 November 1996, Viktor Chernomyrdin served as Acting President for 23 hours.

17.

Viktor Chernomyrdin remained Prime Minister until his sudden dismissal on 23 March 1998.

18.

Rather than risking a third rejection and thus forcing the dissolution of the State Duma and political crisis, Viktor Chernomyrdin withdrew his nomination and the President asked the more popular Yevgeny Primakov to form a new cabinet.

19.

In December 1999 Viktor Chernomyrdin was elected a member of the State Duma.

20.

Viktor Chernomyrdin died on the morning of 3 November 2010 after a long illness.

21.

Viktor Chernomyrdin was buried beside his wife in Novodevichy Cemetery on 5 November 2010.

22.

In Russian-speaking countries, Viktor Chernomyrdin is known for his numerous malapropisms and syntactically incorrect speech, somewhat similar to Irish bulls.

23.

Viktor Chernomyrdin's idioms received the name Chernomyrdinki, and are somewhat comparable to Bushisms in style and effect.