26 Facts About Volodymyr Shcherbytsky

Volodymyr Vasyliovych Shcherbytsky was a Ukrainian Soviet politician who served as First Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party from 1972 to 1989.

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky ruled as a neo-Stalinist, overseeing Russification of Ukrainian society as well as a rapid shift to nuclear power, ultimately resulting in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky was removed in 1989 amidst widespread protests against his rule, and died months later.

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky graduated from the Dnipropetrovsk Chemical Technology Institute in 1941 and in the same year became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

In March 1943, Volodymyr Shcherbytsky was transferred to the chemical department at the headquarters of the Transcaucasian Front, where he served until the end of the war.

From 1948 Volodymyr Shcherbytsky was a party functionary in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky succeeded Brezhnev as regional party boss in November 1955.

On 16 October 1965, after Brezhnev had risen to the supreme position as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Volodymyr Shcherbytsky was restored to his former position at the head of the Ukrainian government.

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky was instead transferred to Moscow and elected to be the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union.

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky's appointment was both a victory for the Soviet government and a personal victory for Brezhnev; Volodymyr Shcherbytsky was a member of Brezhnev's political clan, the Dnipropetrovsk Mafia, which was opposed to Shelest's Kharkiv Clan.

In government, Volodymyr Shcherbytsky relied on a group of party cadres from both the Dnipropetrovsk Mafia and emerging Donetsk Clan, both of whom were more supportive of Russification than other political clans in Ukraine.

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky was an influential figure in the Soviet Union's larger government.

Karen Dawisha and Bruce Parrott have argued that Volodymyr Shcherbytsky's rule was among the most corrupt and conservative among the Soviet republics.

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky made a point of speaking Russian at official functions while Shelest spoke Ukrainian in public events.

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky claimed that "the worst enemy of the Ukrainian people" is "Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism and international Zionism".

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky's removal was originally planned by Gorbachev, owing to the former's hardline rule.

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky was likewise a strong opponent of Gorbachev, saying in one instance:.

An advocate of increased nuclear power, Volodymyr Shcherbytsky's position was significantly impacted by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky went ahead with this plan, knowing that there was danger of spreading radiation sickness and even taking his own grandson Volodya to the celebrations.

Political groups in opposition to Volodymyr Shcherbytsky's rule began to form in 1987, and the next year, protests against his government began in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky's government replied by discrediting the strikes in state media and downplaying their significance.

On 20 September 1989, Volodymyr Shcherbytsky lost his membership of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in a purge of conservative members pushed through by Gorbachev.

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky's removal was not enough to stem the rapidly-growing discontent with the Soviet system in Ukraine, which continued to grow until Ukraine achieved independence two years later.

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky died on 16 February 1990 - one day before his 72nd birthday, which when he was supposed to testify in the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR about the events related to the Chernobyl disaster.

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky was buried at the Baikove Cemetery in Kyiv.

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky was married to Ariadna Gavrilovna Shcherbitskaya, nee Zheromskaya on 13 November 1945.