Petro Shelest

Petro Shelest
  • Петро Шелест
  • Пётр Шелест
Shelest, c. 1960s-1970s
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine
In office
23 June 1963 – 19 May 1972
Preceded byNikolai Podgorny
Succeeded byVolodymyr Shcherbytsky
Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union
In office
19 May 1972 – 7 May 1973
PremierAlexei Kosygin
Personal details
Born(1908-02-14)14 February 1908
Died22 January 1996(1996-01-22) (aged 87)
Resting placeBaikove Cemetery, Kyiv
PartyCommunist Party of the Soviet Union (1928–1973)
Signature
Military service
AllegianceSoviet Union
Branch/serviceRed Army
Years of service1936–1937
Central institution membership

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Petro Yukhymovych Shelest (14 February [O.S. 1 February] 1908 – 22 January 1996) was a Ukrainian Soviet politician who served as First Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party from 1965 until his removal in 1972. Ideologically a social moderate and a national communist, he oversaw a widespread liberalisation of Ukrainian society as part of the Khrushchev Thaw and Sixtier movement that led to increased visibility of the Ukrainian language and culture in public life. In 1972, Shelest was removed by Leonid Brezhnev and replaced with Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, who undid much of Shelest's reforms and oversaw intensive Russification of Ukrainian society.