Volodymyr Vasylyovych Shcherbytsky (17 February 1918, Verkhnodniprovsk

Verkhnodniprovsk

Verkhnodniprovsk is a city in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast of Ukraine. Population is 16,976 . Serving as the administrative center of the Verkhnodniprovskyi Raion...

 - 17 February 1990) was a Ukrainian

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 and Soviet politician. He was a leader of the Communist Party of Ukraine from 1972 to 1989.

An influential figure in the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, a member of Soviet politburo

Politburo

Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...

 since 1971, he was a close ally to the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev

Leonid Brezhnev

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev  – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...

. His rule of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was characterized by the expanded policies of re-centralisation and suppression of dissent

Suppression of dissent

Suppression of dissent occurs when an individual or group which is more powerful than another tries to directly or indirectly censor, persecute or otherwise oppress the other party, rather than engage with and constructively respond to or accommodate the other party's arguments or viewpoint...

. While supporting Russification

Russification

Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes by non-Russian communities...

 policies, he still allowed Ukrainian language to keep circulating side-by-side with Russian in this traditionally bilingual region. Scherbytsky's power base was arguably one of the most corrupt

Political corruption

Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...

 and conservative among the Soviet republics.

He was one of the supporters of Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...

  in his takeover of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...

 which ultimately led to the implementation of reforms that dramatically altered the country and its future. At the same time, Scherbytsky opposed these democratic changes.

He is also held responsible for concealing the real scale of the Chernobyl Accident even to the central government in Moscow and for holding a May Day

May Day

May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....

 demonstration in Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

 only five days after the accident happened, when the public was still severely exposed to nuclear radiation. He committed suicide in 1990.

Awards

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky was twice awarded the Hero of Socialist Labour - in 1974 and 1977. During his public service he also received numerous other civil and state awards and recognitions, including the Order of Lenin

Order of Lenin

The Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...

 (in 1958, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1983 and 1988), the Order of October Revolution (in 1978 and 1982), the Order of the Patriotic War

Order of the Patriotic War

The Order of the Patriotic War is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisans for heroic deeds during the German-Soviet War, known by the former-Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War.- History :The Order was...

, I class (in 1985) and various medals.

External links

• Shcherbytsky Volodymyr Vasylyovych, from the Ukrainian Government Portal