Attempted assassination of Leonid Brezhnev

This article is part of a series about Leonid Brezhnev
Early life Dnipropetrovsk clan First, then General Secretary of the CPSU 1964–1982 Brezhnev Era Era of Stagnation Collective leadership Economic reforms 1965 1973 1979 Shadow economy Assassination attempt Bulldozer Exhibition Baikal–Amur Mainline 1977 Constitution Cult of personality Brezhnev's trilogy Food Programme Opposition Sinyavsky–Daniel trial Moscow Helsinki Group Punitive psychiatry Foreign policy Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia Brezhnev Doctrine Soviet–Afghan War Cold War détente 1962–1979 1979–1985 Death and state funeral Legacy Media gallery
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An assassination attempt was made upon Leonid Brezhnev on 22 January 1969,^[1] when a deserter from the Soviet Army, Viktor Ilyin, fired shots at a motorcade carrying the leader through Moscow. Though Brezhnev was unhurt, the shots killed a driver and lightly injured several celebrated cosmonauts of the Soviet space program who were present in the motorcade. Brezhnev's attacker was captured and a news blackout on the event was maintained by the Soviet government for years thereafter.