Yuri Leonidovich Brezhnev is the son of Soviet

Soviet people

Soviet people or Soviet nation was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Initially used as a nonspecific reference to the Soviet population, it was eventually declared to be a "new historical, social and international unity of people".-Nationality politics in early Soviet...

 politician and longtime General Secretary

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the title given to the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. With some exceptions, the office was synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union...

 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...

 and Viktoria Brezhneva

Viktoria Brezhneva

Viktoria Petrovna Brezhneva was the wife of Soviet politician and longtime General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev. She was the mother of Yuri Brezhnev and Galina Brezhneva.-Life:...

.

Life and career

By Konstantin Chernenko

Konstantin Chernenko

Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was a Soviet politician and the fifth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He led the Soviet Union from 13 February 1984 until his death thirteen months later, on 10 March 1985...

's death Yuri had become a chronic alcoholic. Before his retirement he held a seat in the Central Committee

Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , abbreviated in Russian as ЦК, "Tse-ka", earlier was also called as the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ...

 (CC) 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...

 (CPSU), and worked as a First Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Trade. After his forced retirement, after allegations of embezzlement

Embezzlement

Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....

 and corruption

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...

, Yuri became a pensioner

Pensioner

In common parlance, a pensioner is a person who has retired, and now collects a pension. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom and Australia where someone of pensionable age may also be referred to as an 'old age pensioner', or OAP. In the United States, the term retiree is more...

. Quickly after becoming a pensioner Yuri was arrested, and all his belongings confiscated.

In contrast to his sister, Galina Brezhneva

Galina Brezhneva

Galina Leonidovna Brezhneva was the daughter of Soviet politician and longtime General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and Viktoria Brezhneva.-Life and death:...

, who was known for her temper and self-gratification, Yuri was a shadowy figure who did not like much public attention. His friends and colleagues claim that he only maintained relations with fellow students of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

The Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation also known as State Educational Institution Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, is a diplomatic institution established in 1934 to teach and train the diplomatic and...

. Yuri has not been active in politics since the dissolution of the Soviet Union

Dissolution of the Soviet Union

The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...

 in 1991.

After the USSR's collapse Yuri stopped making public appearances, and rejected an offer made by the Russian government to cooperate with them. In 2000 he rejected an offer to appear on a documentary detailing the "Era of Stagnation", an era

Era

An era is a commonly used word for long period of time. When used in science, for example geology, eras denote clearly defined periods of time of arbitrary but well defined length, such as for example the Mesozoic era from 252 Ma–66 Ma, delimited by a start event and an end event. When used in...

 some believe Brezhnev started. Yuri denied these allegations, claiming that his father had nothing to do with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

He was married to Ludmila Vladimirovna. Yuri's wife has given birth to two sons, one of them, Andrei Brezhnev accused the Communist Party of the Russian Federation

Communist Party of the Russian Federation

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is a Russian political party. It is the second major political party in the Russian Federation.-History:...

 (CPRF) of deviating from communist ideology and launched the unsuccessful All-Russian Communist Movement in the late 1990s. By 2004 Andrei had become a well-established member of the CPRF.