Volodymyr Shcherbytsky

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky
Володимир Щербицький
Shcherbytsky, c. 1970s-1980s
First Secretary of the Communist Party
of Ukraine
In office
25 May 1972 – 28 September 1989
Preceded byPetro Shelest
Succeeded byVladimir Ivashko
Chairman of the Council of Ministers
of Ukraine
In office
23 October 1965 – 25 May 1972
Preceded byIvan Kazanets
Succeeded byOleksandr Liashko
In office
28 February 1961 – 26 June 1963
Preceded byNikifor Kalchenko
Succeeded byIvan Kazanets
First Secretary of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Committee
In office
7 July 1963 – 23 October 1965
Preceded byNikita Tolubeev
Succeeded byOleksiy Vatchenko
In office
December 1955 – December 1957
Preceded byAndrei Kirilenko
Succeeded byAnton Gayevoy
Personal details
Born(1918-02-17)17 February 1918
Died16 February 1990(1990-02-16) (aged 71)
Resting placeBaikove Cemetery, Kyiv
PartyCommunist Party of the Soviet Union (1948–1989)
Signature
Military service
AllegianceSoviet Union
Branch/serviceRed Army
Years of service1941–1945
RankCaptain
Battles/wars
Central institution membership
  • 1961–1963: Candidate member, 22nd Presidium
  • 1965–1966: Candidate member, 22nd Presidium
  • 1971–1989: Full member, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th Politburo
  • 1961–1990: Full member, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th Central Committee
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Volodymyr Vasyliovych Shcherbytsky (17 February 1918 – 16 February 1990) was a Ukrainian Soviet politician who served as First Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party from 1972 to 1989. A close ally of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, Shcherbytsky replaced the reformist leader, Petro Shelest, in 1972 as part of a crackdown on the Ukrainian intelligentsia. Under Shcherbytsky's neo-Stalinist rule, Ukraine was subjected to an intensive Russification campaign as well as a rapid shift to nuclear power, which ultimately resulted in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. In 1989, Shcherbytsky was removed amidst widespread protests against his rule, and died months later.