Volodymyr Shcherbytsky

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky
Володимир Щербицький
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine
In office 25 May 1972 – 28 September 1989
Preceded by	Petro Shelest
Succeeded by	Vladimir Ivashko
Chairman of the Council of Ministers
In office 23 October 1965 – 25 May 1972
Preceded by	Ivan Kazanets
Succeeded by	Oleksandr Liashko
In office 28 February 1961 – 26 June 1963
Preceded by	Nikifor Kalchenko
Succeeded by	Ivan Kazanets
First Secretary of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Committee
In office 7 July 1963 – 23 October 1965
Preceded by	Nikita Tolubeev
Succeeded by	Oleksiy Vatchenko
In office December 1955 – December 1957
Preceded by	Andrei Kirilenko
Succeeded by	Anton Gayevoy
Personal details
Born	(1918-02-17)17 February 1918 Verkhnodniprovsk, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets, Russian SFSR (now Ukraine)
Died	16 February 1990(1990-02-16) (aged 71) Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Resting place	Baikove Cemetery, Kyiv
Political party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1948–1989)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Branch/service	Red Army
Years of service	1941–1945
Rank	Captain
Battles/wars	World War II Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
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

Volodymyr Vasyliovych Shcherbytsky^[a] (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 reformist leader Petro Shelest in 1972 as part of a crackdown on the Ukrainian intelligentsia. 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. Shcherbytsky was removed in 1989 amidst widespread protests against his rule, and died months later.
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