Professional in the field government controlled Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov is an active politician whose working life was inextricably linked with solving public problems. Thanks to his extraordinary diplomatic skills he always came out successfully conflict situations. The Soviet reformer was awarded for assistance in emergency situations, for his contribution to the development of industry and the country's legislation.

The beginning of your career

Nikolai Ryzhkov (09/28/1929) was born in Dyleevka, Donetsk region, Artemov district in Ukraine. Parents of the future politician belonged to the worker-peasant family. All the men in Nikolai’s family, including his younger brother Evgeniy, worked as miners and miners. In the post-war period, when the whole country was experiencing a terrible famine, the young man managed to enter the mechanical engineering college in Kramatorsk in 1946, located 70 km from the birthplace of Nikolai Ryzhkov. Classes were held in a dilapidated building, and students lived in the rooms of private homeowners, since the dormitories were destroyed.

The future party leader spent his years studying at a vocational school among former military personnel. They were an example for yesterday's schoolchildren. Students who returned from the war, with an age difference of 3-4 years from the younger generation, comprehended science, becoming specialists in mechanical engineering enterprises. Nikolai Ryzhkov, who initially dreamed of serving in the Air Force, was trained by front-line teachers, many of whom were mining specialists.

Activity educational institution, where Nikolai Ryzhkov trained, was based on the production facilities of a heavy engineering enterprise in Novo-Kramatorsk. The future politician was engaged in assembling overhead metallurgical cranes on the premises of the Sverdlovsk plant, popularly called the younger brother of the Uralmash plant, a mechanic's assistant. Having received a place in the distribution after technical school in 1950, Ryzhkov became a shift foreman at the Uralmash enterprise, a large enterprise in the USSR.

1 year after the start of his career, Nikolai was appointed flight leader. After 5 years, he takes the position of workshop manager. Since 1959, Ryzhkov has been the chief technologist for welding work plant named after S. Ordzhonikidze. In the same year, he received a diploma of higher technical education after graduating from the UPI named after. CM. Kirov with a degree in Mechanical Engineer. This was Ryzhkov’s first leadership experience, in which he showed talent and extraordinary abilities in the field of production management.

Professional achievements and awards

A specialist in the field of organizing production activities in mechanical engineering, Ryzhkov always valued the opinion of ordinary workers. As chief technologist, he led a large-scale project to introduce a powerful block of workshops into European mechanical engineering welded joints. He was awarded the USSR State Prize (1969, 1979) for the use of new principles of steel casting. Orders for professional achievements:

• Lenin - 1974, 1976
• Red Banner of Labor - 1966, 1979
• Patriotic War I degree - 1985
• Fatherland - 2008
• Honor - 2013
• "For services to the Fatherland" IV and I degrees - 2004 and 2014

In 1965, the head of Uralmash, Nikolai Ryzhkov, managed to lead in the field of metallurgical production. General Director he was appointed already at the age of 40. Thanks to his fruitful work, the scientist became the author of:

1. Patents for 6 inventions in the field of welding metallurgy.
2. Projects for the creation of unique units in the field of heavy engineering.
3. Monographs on 2 topics on welded structures.
4. Articles in the field of economics, technology and management sciences.

In 1987, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Nikolai Ryzhkov visited Finland, where he visited the computer production plant of the Nokia company (Turku).

Political career

In 1975, from the country's personnel reserve, the politician was approved for the post of First Deputy Minister in the field of heavy engineering, where he worked for about 4 years. Acted as Chairman of the State Plan of the USSR. Ryzhkov was elected secretary, he was the head of the economic department after his candidacy was included in the Central Committee with the support of Andropov. Nikolai Ivanovich could become Minister of Emergency Situations, since he never stood aside in the event of various accidents or conflicts in the social and political life of the USSR. He headed the headquarters associated with the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident.

Ryzhkov was able to prevent the Fergana conflict caused by the Turkish-Uzbek confrontation. The statesman participated in the housing development program, initiated the closure of the project associated with the turn of northern rivers to the south, developed anti-alcohol campaign. He took part in the election campaign for the post of President of the Russian Federation, but the victory remained with Yeltsin.

Private life of politics

Building a career over the course of 25 years from the start of his career did not prevent the future prominent politician from creating a strong and friendly family. Ryzhkov met his future wife at the Uralmash plant, where she held the position of designer. Lyudmila and Nikolai had a daughter, Marina, who, after graduating from the law institute in the city of Sverdlovsk, became the wife of a fellow university student, Gutin Boris. At first, Marina’s husband worked as an official of the State Customs Committee. In 2000, he became a representative of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

Nikolai Ryzhkov about his family: “We are always together - both in sorrow and in joy. This also helped me find myself in life and enjoy every day I live.”

The politician's grandchildren - Marina's son and daughter - received higher education. Having become a certified specialist in the field of medicine, granddaughter Lyudmila married the ex-mayor of the city of Tver Vladimir Babichev. Grandson Nikolai became a captain after graduating from the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and then devoted his career to business.

Nikolai Ryzhkov spends most of his working time at various meetings and writes scientific articles. In 2016, the annual Creation Prize of Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov was approved. This award is given to scientists leading scientific activity in the field of technology, construction, nature conservation. The award is given to social workers.

Nikolai Ryzhkov, who replaced Nikolai Tikhonov, was remembered by his contemporaries as a crying Bolshevik. About how the sensitive prime minister managed to lead the government, a Vlast observer Evgeniy Zhirnov said the former manager of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Mikhail Smirtyukov.

— How did Ryzhkov’s appointment as chairman of the government happen?

— In September 1985, a few days before Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tikhonov’s resignation from the post of prime minister, I visited Gorbachev: many unresolved “political and domestic” issues had accumulated - the allocation of dachas, the size of pensions for some leaders released from work, etc. Tikhonov spent a long time was ill, and when he came to the Kremlin, realizing that he would soon be “left,” he did not want to make decisions on these sensitive issues. He returned the papers to me and said: “Decide as you know.” How to decide, especially when they ask for something that is not supposed to? For example, at that time “Seagulls” were not sold to anyone. As official cars, they were used only by ministers and secretaries of the Central Committee. And I had a statement from Chingiz Aitmatov, who was then an ardent supporter of Gorbachev. He asked to be allowed to buy the Chaika, since he spends a lot of time on the road, explaining to the people the party's accelerated course, and hardly sees his family. And, they say, his family could travel with him in such a roomy car. Gorbachev looked at this statement, grinned and said: “Throw it in the trash!” Then he approved the pension issues and asked: “Well, do you think it’s difficult for Nikolai Alexandrovich to work?” I answered honestly that it was difficult. “I think so too,” says Gorbachev. “I believe that he is an honest person, but he cannot cope with such health in the new conditions. I talked to him about this topic. He needs to retire.” Then he paused and asked: “Well, who should take his place?” “Yes, you’ve already identified,” I say, “probably Mikhail Sergeevich,” “Yes, of course, of course. And yet?” Before I could open my mouth, he said: “So I think it’s Ryzhkov.” “And you,” says Gorbachev, “go, Misha, work and help Ryzhkov.”

— Why did Gorbachev choose him?

— There were only one or two candidates: Dolgikh and Ryzhkov. Both were former managers largest enterprises. Dolgikh - Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine, Ryzhkov - Uralmash. But by that time Dolgikh had been the secretary of the regional committee and the Central Committee for more than fifteen years, had authority in the party apparatus and, having received the post of prime minister, could eventually become a competitor to Gorbachev. And Ryzhkov in those years was less famous politician. He did not make bright speeches, he did not prepare global projects similar to Gorbachev’s “Food Program”. There was no noticeable desire in him then to stand out. In addition, Ryzhkov is a rather soft and pliable person. I observed this at the commission to improve the work of the management apparatus. The head of the commission was Tikhonov, who could be quite harsh at times. When Nikolai Alexandrovich posed a question point blank, Ryzhkov agreed with him. Immediately, another member of the commission, Gorbachev, resorted to his favorite method of smoothing the corners: “But maybe this is how we should proceed now? This question, comrades, can be considered separately, not here and not now. Let’s see, let’s see what happens, but "We'll see. Let's put this question aside." Ryzhkov was one of the first to support him. And then the Secretary General considered him a knowledgeable economist. Probably because he himself was well versed mainly in resort and agriculture. But in reality, Ryzhkov did not have enough training and experience to work as prime minister.

- But he was a deputy minister, first deputy chairman of the State Planning Committee, and secretary of the Central Committee.

“He somehow galloped through these posts.” Kosygin, before heading the government, worked in it for twenty-five years, Tikhonov for thirty. And Ryzhkov? Four years in the Ministry of Heavy and transport engineering, three in the State Planning Committee, three in the Central Committee. In the government, it turns out, seven years, and all in the position of deputy. And service in the Central Committee in terms of management practice in many cases only spoiled a person. I discouraged myself from taking on any responsibility. If you receive a reasonable proposal, be sure to write your objections. What happened, you warned, you were on alert. And instead of concrete business on Old Square, they most often occupied themselves with an empty talking shop. I often had to visit them at various meetings and commissions. Preparations for them went on for months, reports were verified and agreed upon down to the last comma. Then they listened to each other and did not make any decisions. And then they walked around and admired: “Oh, how well the meeting was held!”

“But it is unlikely that Ryzhkov, in just three years of work in the Central Committee, could have become an ardent supporter of these orders.

“I also wanted to believe in it.” A day after our conversation with Gorbachev, we met in Ryzhkov’s office on Old Square. He accepted me as a person with whom he had been friends for a hundred years. After his official appointment, he did not change the existing structure and system of government work. He listened to the specialists, although it was felt that he was doing this reluctantly. In general, Ryzhkov’s mood was not the best due to problems with the budget. The Ministry of Finance then cited calculations of huge budget losses from the decline in alcohol sales. And Ryzhkov tried to reduce the scale and slow down the pace of the anti-alcohol campaign. He submitted his proposals to the Politburo, and it was decided that the reduction in alcohol production would occur gradually - over five years. But Solomentsev and Ligachev intervened in the matter, fighting for sobriety with all their might. Yegor Kuzmich summoned the Central Committee secretariat and scolded the leaders of the regions where, in his opinion, alcohol consumption was not being reduced quickly enough. He believed that all the country’s troubles were due to drunkenness, and that was all. And the chairman of the party control committee, Solomentsev, called the regional committee secretaries who were delaying the cutting down of the vineyards, and threatened with all possible party punishments. As I was told then, the doctors forbade him to drink, and he apparently decided that the whole country should join him. So the two of them blew up the budget. And Ryzhkov realized that on his own, without regard to the Central Committee, he, in fact, could only manage the apparatus of the Council of Ministers.

“You,” he says, “are building a reception house not far from Barvikha. So Lyudmila Sergeevna began to come there every week. She walks around the construction site with her dog. The workers grin at her.”

— Did he change somehow after that?

- Became vulnerable and touchy. For example, a very qualified lawyer Yakovlev worked for us. And Ryzhkov began to hint to me that he needed to find another job. It turned out that the prime minister did not like the expression on Yakovlev’s face. “He looks,” he says, “at me and grins all the time.” He managed to convince the prime minister that the man was seriously wounded at the front, and the grin was the result of an unsuccessful operation in a field hospital. Then it began to seem to him that the employees of the apparatus, to whom he turned for help and advice when he worked in the ministry and the State Planning Committee, were lecturing him. I tried to explain to him that they were just expressing their opinion. And that they also worked with Tikhonov and Kosygin. But here my convictions did not work: Ryzhkov began to ignore these comrades and their proposals. Following this, he began to complain that he had found himself in a “muddy routine backwater,” and first of all, he decided to change the system for preparing government regulations. In our country, all decisions were prepared not by the government apparatus, but by the department that was supposed to carry them out. Based on your capabilities. And the Council of Ministers' assistants ensured that these possibilities were not underestimated and helped coordinate the project with other interested ministries. Then the legal department and a group of philologists-proofreaders dealt with the text of the projects. Ryzhkov decided to do everything as in the Central Committee. For example, to prepare a draft decision on supplying Moscow with vegetables, a group of several dozen experts was created, led by the Prime Minister’s assistant Sovakov. Together with stenographers and typists, they went to the government sanatorium "Sosny" near Moscow. For two months they worked there so hard that someone even managed to get a divorce and marry a stenographer. The finished document began to be coordinated with the Moscow City Council. And they received an answer from there that the capital did not need this project in this form.

- And what did Ryzhkov do?

— Apparently, he decided that this was the machinations of the device, and began to change its structure and composition. Copied almost exactly staffing table Central Committee. And I started working on solution projects myself. Selected words, placed commas.

- But this should have taken a lot of time?

“And he came early in the morning and worked until late.” And soon I found out why he was in no hurry to go home. The head of the 9th Directorate of the KGB (government security) Plekhanov called me and asked for advice. “We need,” he says, “to change Nikolai Ivanovich’s security chief. I talk to him, he agrees, but he comes home, calls back and asks to wait with this. And this has happened twice already.” “Why,” I ask, “is it necessary to change the boss? He looks like a good guy.” “He’s not bad,” says Plekhanov. “But he fell under the thumb of Nikolai Ivanovich’s wife, Lyudmila Sergeevna. And now he’s not so much involved in protecting the prime minister as he is carrying out her instructions. A person with a strong character needs to be placed there.” Well, of course, I didn’t get involved in these matters. Then they report to me that when preparing Ryzhkov’s foreign visit, his wife asked her to organize everything “like Raisa Maksimovna.” There was no need to intervene again. Someone reported this request to the Central Committee. From there they called the economic department of the Council of Ministers, which was preparing the visit, and said: “There is only one “first lady” in the country. Is that clear?”

— Did Lyudmila Ryzhkova try to interfere in big politics, imitating Raisa Maksimovna?

— Ryzhkov himself did not interfere in big politics. He strictly followed Gorbachev's footsteps. Therefore, Lyudmila Sergeevna could not, like Raisa Maksimovna, participate in the preparation of reports at congresses, keynote speeches, etc. And she focused on economic issues. I started with the dacha. After his appointment as prime minister, Ryzhkov was given a dacha where Molotov once lived, then Khrushchev, and after him Podgorny. The dacha is decent, and the plot is huge - about 30 hectares. Before he moved in, it was renovated and furnished new furniture. Suddenly, during one of our conversations, Ryzhkov reported that he was talking about his dacha with Gorbachev. “I told the general that the dacha is small and there is no swimming pool, although I am entitled to it. I say that I want to build a modest, but new one. And Gorbachev replied: “That’s right.” I tell him: “Nikolai Ivanovich, why spend a lot of money building it? Grishin is about to vacate the dacha. It has a swimming pool. We’ll repair it and live.” He didn't answer. After some time, the deputy head of the 9th Directorate of the KGB, Klen, calls me. And this one is about Ryzhkov’s wife. “You,” he says, “are building a reception house not far from Barvikha. So Lyudmila Sergeevna began to come there every week. She walks around the construction site with her dog. The workers scoff. It’s inconvenient. I should tell Nikolai Ivanovich about this somehow.” I was surprised. We agreed with Ryzhkov to build a mansion there to receive foreign delegations. What does his wife have to do with it? They report to me that she indicates how to arrange the rooms and so on. I ask Ryzhkov. He hesitates: “Yes, we decided to make this house country house Council of Ministers." Who are we? Here's a new, but modest dacha. They furnished that too. But he only lived in it for a week and a half. There was a fuss in the newspapers, and the Ryzhkovs quickly moved out.

“In general, Ryzhkov’s mood was not the best due to problems with the budget. The Ministry of Finance then cited calculations of huge budget losses from the decrease in alcohol sales.”

— Since the beginning of glasnost, there have been many such scandals surrounding Ryzhkov’s name.

- That's for sure. There was a scandal with the attempt to privatize the dacha, already the third one, the same Grishinsky one, which was finally renovated for him. Then with the construction of an elite residential building in the very center of Moscow, where Ryzhkov, his daughter’s family and some close associates settled. There could be much more scandals if journalists could see some government orders. Some cooperatives were granted unimaginable rights; for the Council of Ministers they purchased huge quantities imported radios and bras. Moreover, all these papers are in violation established order They walked past the office, past me. Then, as the newspapers wrote, with the consent of the Foreign Economic Commission of the Council of Ministers, the notorious ANT was formed, which was supposed to exchange our tanks abroad for Western consumer goods. In a word, the government turned into some kind of stock exchange. All this commerce was led by Alexander Sterligov, appointed at the insistence of Lyudmila Sergeevna as head of the economic department of the Council of Ministers. I resisted his appearance in the government as much as I could, and then I gave up. I was already very old. In 1989, before the first Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, together with the entire government, I resigned. Then he worked for almost another year as an adviser to the new business manager. Overall, he has been in the government and the Kremlin for sixty years. How much longer could you work?

— The strongest, of course, was Kosygin. Then Molotov, Stalin, Malenkov, Tikhonov, Bulganin, Khrushchev, Ryzhkov.

— By placing Ryzhkov last, did you go too far?

— You know, when he was away from Gorbachev and his wife, it turned out that he was an excellent manager. In Armenia, for example, after the earthquake, Ryzhkov quickly and clearly organized rescue and restoration work. He would make an excellent minister for emergency situations. But in my memory, there was no weaker prime minister in the Soviet Union than Ryzhkov.

“With all disrespect to Gorbachev, he did not want to destroy the country”

Former Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Nikolai Ryzhkov on how perestroika began

Thirty years ago, in March 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the USSR. A month after his appointment to the post of General Secretary, he, imitating Lenin, voiced the famous “April theses”, from which it is customary to begin perestroika. Member of the Federation Council Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov, who served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR from 1985 to 1991, expressed his view on the events of 30 years ago to Lenta.ru.

"Lenta.ru": How did you assess perestroika in 1985? And has your attitude towards her changed much now?

Ryzhkov: Firstly, I was not delighted with the word “perestroika”. The fact is that this word is not new, the Provisional Government of Kerensky had it, but journalists picked it up and away they went. I prefer the definition of “reform”. At first I was categorically for reforms, I was even one of their initiators, because my life experience and work at the factory, in the ministry and in the Central Committee of the Party showed that we had exhausted the possibilities of the economic model in which we lived before the war, during the war, after the war . A rigid planned system was extremely necessary - without it we would not have defeated the Germans, we would never have restored the national economy. They took it from someone, of course, but gave it to someone - that’s natural. But later, many, including myself, began to believe that this system had exhausted itself - it was heavily bureaucratic. How many workers do you need to keep, how many main workers, how many auxiliary workers, how many engineers, how many technicians, auxiliary workers, cleaners? I had 52 thousand workers at the plant... Therefore, we very persistently wrote that something had to be done. Before me and Gorbachev, there were already attempts at reforms, for example, Alexei Nikolaevich Kosygin (Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR from 1964 to 1980 - approx. "Tapes.ru"), which, by the way, did a good job for its time. What he did was enormous progress, one cannot blame him for anything, and one must give him his due: he was ahead of his time. Then there was another attempt after Kosygin - they let it go.

Photo: Vasily Shaposhnikov / Kommersant

Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov included me in the group for developing reforms. Our team (Gorbachev, Dolgikh and Ryzhkov) used the documents and ideas that had accumulated. This is how, in April 1985, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev laid out on the speaking table a program of action that we had been working on for three years.

That is, at first you had a positive attitude, participated in the preparation of reforms, but what became the turning point?

I supported Gorbachev until 1987, after which our paths diverged. Thanks to the haste, thoughtlessness and talkativeness of Gorbachev and the Jesuit methods of the “architect of destruction” Alexander Yakovlev, perestroika failed. And the split between us occurred in 1987, when we summed up the results of our work (we conducted an experiment in ministries with different features) and saw where it was good and where it was bad. We began to think about what to do next. Gorbachev, together with Shevardnadze, Yakovlev, and Medvedev, prepared a report in Volynsky.

Is it in Matveevsky, where is Stalin’s dacha?

Yes. I didn't prepare that report. Gorbachev called me, they say, come and look at the theses here, I need to decide what to present. Secretary of the Central Committee Slyunkov, a member of the Politburo for economics, went with me, and we began to discuss everything point by point. They suggested that we include the following thesis in Mikhail Sergeevich’s report at the April plenum - to avoid detailed planning. This means no construction of housing, kindergartens, clubs...

What did they offer instead of the plan?

Nothing! They say that the market itself will regulate all this, it will force us to do something. I jumped up and said categorically: “What are you doing? You will destroy the country, the country is absolutely not ready!” Imagine, all my life I was shown what to do, and suddenly everything was crossed out and they said: go look! And to look, you have to go for another year or two! Let's have some kind of transition period. For example, we will give state orders to enterprises for at least 50 percent, and let them look for orders outside for 50 percent. At least the plant will be running.

What are they?

"No". It is necessary to have all this at once. In general, it was a very difficult conversation. I say: what about housing, kindergartens? “Well, the market is omnipresent, it will demand everywhere, and so on.” In general, an old liberal song. That is, they proposed to do what Yeltsin did on January 2, 1992.

That is, shock therapy and everything else?

Yes, that's exactly what they suggested. And I said that I am categorically against this whole business.

Couldn't they decide without you?

They could, why couldn't they? I told them: “Please, if you think that planning is not necessary, then cancel it all and there will be no schools or kindergartens. But you remember, Mikhail Sergeevich, that you and I both spoke at the congress: you gave a political report, and I gave an economic report. And I talked about all this and recorded everything, how much housing, how much of what is planned to be built. If you want to remove something, call a congress; even the plenum is not able to do this, because the congress approved it.” And I told him: “Mikhail Sergeevich, you will not get support with this.”

So, all this was postponed until the 90s?

Yes, for 1992. And all these questions came to the Politburo, and then the Politburo did not go very well, it was incorrect - they grabbed each other by the chests. Do you know that there were no metal detectors at the Politburo? People came, sat and listened, and then came out and said: they are fighting there, who is leading us? And my soul was very uneasy, I called Gorbachev and offered to meet one-on-one. We met on Saturday at 11 am, and I told him: “Mikhail Sergeevich, I will take my position - they will beat me, kill me. I hold on to it consciously, because I understand that there is no other way. I believe that if we move away from this position, we will ruin the country. The country is not ready." And so we talked many times, sometimes we met three times a day (at that time there were no announcements that such a person was dating that person). Once again I tell him: “I last time came to you, or let's find mutual language at work, or I'm leaving. I won’t work in such an environment, why should I listen to insults addressed to me?”

Then they started calling you “a log in the way of perestroika”?

Yes, just after that. I told him: “Either you follow the path of our concept, or stay with Shevardnadze and others - they have not straightened out the rusty nail in their lives, but are taking over to govern the country.” In general, he gave up. But the crack was still there. And it was then that I began to hesitate regarding the perestroika that was underway.

I have come across the opinion of historians that Andropov did not plan the same reforms as those implemented by Gorbachev. You, as a person who directly participated in the development of these reforms, tell me which of them were really conceived under Andropov, and which were the result of the influence of Yakovlev, Shevardnadze and the same Gorbachev?

We really began to work on Andropov’s instructions, I was elected on November 22, 1982 (Secretary and Head of the Economic Department of the CPSU Central Committee - approx. "Tapes.ru"), two weeks later he invited Gorbachev, Dolgikh and me. The chain of command was quite strict: one member of the Politburo, one candidate member and me, the secretary. And we started working. Andropov is a unique person, they write a lot about him now, I think they even write too much. Some say that he was a Jew, others say that he was Russian, but it doesn’t matter. Yes, we never asked ourselves the question of who was of what nationality, the main thing was who worked how. But the fact that he is a politician to the core is yes. He quickly grasped fundamental economic issues; he did not need to chew. For example, he calls me directly and says: what are you doing? Working. Well, come on over. This means that he has freed up time - I take the folder and go to him. And he tells me: leave the folder, and starts chasing me with questions: what is happening in our country with concessions? Yes, in my opinion, nothing is being done. What do you know about this? Exactly the same as everyone else who went through school. You don't have much knowledge. He paused and added: me too, go ahead and study this issue and come to me again. I came to my staff and said: look for what literature there is on concessions. A day later we found some woman in Leninka defending her work on this topic.

After he had already died, and I lived for these five years and resigned, there was time to think, and I increasingly came to the conclusion that Andropov would have carried out soft reforms in the country, and not like Gorbachev and Yakovlev. Andropov was familiar with the basics of the Chinese version of reforms. If he had lived longer, we would essentially have China.

That is, if Andropov had lived longer, the reforms would have been more successful and the Union would have been preserved? Was there a possibility of preserving the Union under Gorbachev?

Under the “early” Gorbachev, the country could have survived; under the “middle” Gorbachev, it was difficult, but it could, but under the “late” Gorbachev, of course, it could not. You see, the “late” Gorbachev is like a sick executioner. Crisis - what is it? One recovers after it, and the other - feet first. I don’t think that Gorbachev tried to destroy the Union; then you’d have to be a complete idiot. The situation was such that his actions - publications and other things - led to this. And in the beginning, when he just began to preach, he could save the Union. For the first half of his activity, with all his shortcomings (verbalism, praise, hating - he always had this), we were pleased that he new person- as many old ones as possible. But after 1987 a crack appeared, and it never came together again. And Yeltsin took advantage of this.

And Andropov’s soft reform, if he had remained alive, how long should it have taken?

You see, Andropov was an ardent communist, he had no doubts. That's why he didn't do what Gorbachev did. This same one always fought with the party together with his wife. But with all disrespect to Gorbachev, he didn’t want to destroy the country, he didn’t want to. He just led to this with his stupid actions. He felt dizzy when they shouted “Gorbi-Gorbi”, and when he saw that the crisis had arrived and he had to decide what to do next... they drank all night and signed what was required. Gorbachev still had this mistake: they always started with the economy, the question of the party and the state was not raised.

You anticipate my next question: why destroy the system if it was only about the economy.

Yes, it was necessary to give new wind to the sails, but Yakovlev all the time propagated opposite values: this party will not work, this government will not work, the economic field, that is, the real sector, will not work, which means everything must be broken. Gorbachev was in Canada for another ten days, I think he was treated well there. Instead of breaking only the economy, finding a foundation and building a new economy, we went to scrap everything. No country in the world undertakes economic reform if it does not have strong government.

So how many years should Andropov’s soft reforms have lasted?

This is one of the questions that people pecked at me back then. Do you remember the ill-fated “500 days”?

Yes, of course, this is a well-known economic program of that time.

So, this is great stupidity. When I formed the government, I think it was 1987, I acted like this: I needed ministers who knew well old system and who would take over everything today, then the ministers, whom I know as progressive people, and we then created a commission headed by academician Leonid Abalkin, there were 50 people on this commission. And they worked for about five months in Sosny, in a rest home, I came there every Saturday, worked, had lunch and left. Every other day they worked out everything we said, and came to the Council of Ministers in the evening at about seven o’clock, and we were here until about nine or ten o’clock, looking at everything and preparing resolutions. It included many famous scientists - economists, production workers (Evgeny Yasin, who is now at the Higher School of Economics, was also a member of this commission, Stanislav Anisimov, Pyotr Katsura, Stepan Sitaryan, Gennady Melikyan, the same Stanislav Shatalin and others).

I had an assistant then, engineer Vladimir Lukyanovich Savakov, he worked with the commission constantly. So, we were sitting one evening, tired as dogs, and he said: Nikolai Ivanovich, there is also the “400 Days Action Program”. I say: “What are these ‘400 days’?” He replies: “They want to do all the reforms that we are developing in 400 days.” I say: “Volodya, go with it, why fool around?” In short, I sent him away. There was stupidity in this program: a change in forms of ownership, for example, was proposed to be carried out on the hundredth day, while there were no corresponding laws or regulations. It was said that if there was a special situation in the country, then it would be necessary to set up field kitchens on the streets. Among the developers were Alexey Mikhailov and Mikhail Zadornov. I read it and forgot.

And Grigory Yavlinsky?

At first Yavlinsky was not among them; he worked for us in the Abalkin commission. Then one day he comes to me and says: “Nikolai Ivanovich, I want to report to you that I have been appointed Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR for Reform.” I tell him: “Are you flying away from the nest, Grigory? Agree, of course. We have to go, this is a promotion, but keep in mind that if you don’t go with us in terms of reform, we will ruin everything, you know about all these “days.” He promised that he would work together. But, as you know, everything went the other way around.

We wanted our man, Lev Voronin, to become Yeltsin’s deputy, but they chose their own, Ivan Silaev. And then Mikhail Bocharov, the director of a small brick factory, spoke, he came out with this program, only it was already called “500 days”. He and the guys there rewrote something, recalculated it, and it turned out to be 100 days more. Of course, he was persecuted and criticized, but after that the program began to live and became not just a program, but a political manifesto. Imagine, I proposed to carry out reforms in 6-8 years, and they said: “Why so long? We’ll do everything in two years.” And everything started spinning around her, I still don’t understand what it was? Maybe the influence of the Sun, remember how Chizhevsky wrote: “And again spots rose on the Sun, and sober minds were darkened.”

Maybe the fact is that the people demanded changes here and now, and not in eight years, and they responded to this request?

The people were thinking, no, of course, it was not only that. Everyone then became kind of crazy, then they cooled down and became normal again. Maybe it really has to do with some spots on the Sun.

I spoke at a session of the Supreme Council and proposed three options: fast with large losses, medium, also with large losses, and our option for 6-8 years, it was also not without losses and risks, but much smaller. Any reforms lead to certain losses. A political fuss ensued. Yeltsin, of course, without reading anything, began to criticize me.

Why do you think he didn't read the programs?

I don't know if he read Mumu as a child, I would be surprised. He didn’t read the program, it was 480 pages, a small program. He began to criticize: “Ryzhkov is a conservative, we need it in 500 days, but he offers 8 years, where is he taking us?” And away we go: about the log, about the fact that I “put a knife in the back.” I still have posters: “A log on the path of perestroika”, “The Ryzhkov government is a government of poverty.”

On December 25, 1990, I suffered a massive heart attack and was taken away for treatment. And somewhere on January 1-2, 1991, I had a one-on-one meeting with Gorbachev.

We talked about business, I told him: “Do you see what’s going on? I officially declare to you that the congress will end, and I am leaving, I will not work anymore. I worked hard, I didn’t leave the podium for a year, I defended the country for a whole year, and all this time I was bullied! Dear general secretary, newspapers in our country are the organ of the CPSU Central Committee, and they torture me. I’m a communist, why are they doing this, why are you silent? They call me whatever they want, all that remains is to call me a homosexual. Why does Vadim Medvedev (headed the ideological commission of the CPSU Central Committee - approx.) arrange all this? "Tapes.ru")? He's a fool! Well, I’ll leave, put Vadim in, let him work!” Gorbachev hesitated and only said: “Maybe he doesn’t know anything, but he writes books.” I laughed: “Stop it, Mikhail Sergeevich, what kind of books does he write?” Then I told him, it will be hard for you, look, now there is a triangle: Yeltsin - Gorbachev - Ryzhkov. Yeltsin himself is a fool, but he has good helpers, and they understand perfectly well that while we are together, it is difficult to fight with us. As soon as I'm gone, you'll be left alone with them, and I don't envy you.

How did he react?

He began to reassure: “Well, what are you pushing, it’s not so,” etc. I decided to leave completely. I worked for a week on my last speech, summing up all the results in it. The first thing I said was: “Perestroika in the form it was intended did not take place.” There was noise throughout the hall. No one had said this before, everyone was sure that she was coming. Then I said that the attack was not on Ryzhkov’s government, but on the country, on the collapse of the country. I’m not a prophet, but look, on December 25, I was taken to the hospital with a heart condition, and exactly a year later, on December 25, 1991, the red flag was lowered when Gorbachev abdicated his post.

What is your attitude towards the State Emergency Committee? What was it? A coup attempt or a provocation that Yeltsin took advantage of?

I was far from this, and no one invited me there, although I was well acquainted with all the members of the committee. Therefore, I will speak as a person looking from the outside, especially since I would not want to offend any of them. So, all this was some kind of childhood. Not serious. There are no subjunctive moods in history, but let's imagine that if these people really, seriously thought, they would not have done this. They brought in tanks, everyone remembers how the girls sat on the tankers’ laps and on the armor of the vehicles. Well, what is it? This is all nonsense.

So you think that Yeltsin’s arrest was possible?

Listen, the State Emergency Committee had the entire KGB subordinate, the head of the KGB Kryuchkov was a member of the committee. This service then was at the level... Lord, they even knew who was in bed with whom. They knew everything and could do everything; there were people there who could develop a plan. Yes, it would be difficult, but possible. I had a friend Wojciech Jaruzelski (the head of socialist Poland - approx. "Tapes.ru"), last years we lost each other, he died last year. So, he declared martial law in Poland. He actually saved the country, but a certain part of the population hated him after that and did not forgive him for it. Once, he told me this himself, there was such a case with him: he was signing books of his memoirs for readers, and a reader supposedly approached him and, under the guise of a book, hit him on the head with two bricks. That is, when people go to extreme measures, they must understand that these are not jokes, these are not girls and boys on tanks. It was some kind of farce. They, unfortunately, accelerated the collapse of the Union.

I would like to end the conversation with a personal question: maybe you regret something you did then, maybe you wanted to change something?

I am 85 years old, I had a difficult, but enough interesting life. I love reading philosophical books, and they say that the greatest mystery for a person is death, and that you need to appreciate every day you live. I believe that there are three such great mysteries: death, mind and peace. It remains a mystery to me what infinity is, and I’m sure it does for many too, because everything that surrounds us is finite. They say the Universe is many billions of years old, but I can’t understand what the Universe is, well, I can’t wrap my head around it. That's what I think about and every day I say thank you that God gave me another day to live. Therefore, I do not curse or regret a single day of my difficult life. I would like my parents to appear again, for my whole family to be together again, for me to be smarter, so that I can distinguish friends from foes well. I am not a churchgoer, although I built a temple, but I think that I have been carried away by materialistic philosophy for too long. She told us that matter is primary, but now I understand that the main thing is the soul.

Studying the lives of many politicians, one can sometimes conclude that in order to become a real professional in the field of government, it is not enough to just be a competent specialist. Definitely, to be effective in your detail in the entrusted area, you also need to be truly extraordinary personality. Just such a Man with capital letters and is Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov, whose biography will be discussed in this article.

Birth

Future outstanding politician of our country was born into a miner's family on September 28, 1929. This happened in a village called Dyleevka (Donetsk region, Ukraine). Our hero's father's name was Ivan Fedorovich, and his mother's name was Alexandra Pavlovna. It goes without saying that the guy’s worker-peasant origins did not bode well for him with great prospects in later life, but fate wanted to make him a very influential person.

Early life and education

Ryzhkov Nikolai had a very difficult childhood, since during this period the country was just beginning to move away from the colossal and tragic consequences of the destructive Great Patriotic War. Of course, this state of affairs forced the guy to grow up very quickly and make his choice in professionally. And so the young man entered the Kramatorsk Mechanical Engineering College at the Faculty of Mechanics. Then from 1953 to 1959. Ryzhkov Nikolay studied at the Ural Polytechnic Institute named after Kirov, from which he successfully graduated with a degree in technology and equipment for welding production.

Worker's career

In 1950, a young guy begins his career. He goes to work at the Ural machine-building plant. He worked at this enterprise until 1975 and was able to go through all levels of the hierarchy. So, he managed to visit:

• Shift foreman (1950-1951)
• Head of the flight (1951-1955).
• Head of the workshop (1955-1959).
• Chief technologist for welding works (1959-1965).
• General Director of the production association (1970-1975).

Let us note that the man was appointed to the highest post at the plant, which at that time had all-Union significance, at the age of forty. And this testifies to his very strong character and truly extraordinary abilities as a leader.

Projects

Nikolai Ryzhkov, when he was the manager of Uralmash, showed his subordinates how efficient and responsible he was. In addition, he turned out to be a real ace in welding and even wrote two monographs and a certain number of articles on this topic. scientific nature. Such achievements did not go unnoticed by the country's leadership, and Ryzhkov was twice awarded the State Prize.

Transition to the position of a high-ranking official

After some time, Nikolai Ryzhkov, whose biography includes many interesting facts, was enrolled in personnel reserve states. And I must say that he did not have to stay in reserve for long. Already in 1975, he was approved for the position of First Deputy Minister of Transport and heavy engineering. And after another 4 years, he finally found himself in the post of first assistant to the Chairman of the State Plan of the USSR. As a statesman, Nikolai Ryzhkov was characterized by particular adherence to principles in resolving key issues, the ability to think big and keep up with technological progress.

Work in the CPSU Central Committee

Here we should make a small digression: back in 1956, our hero joined the ranks of the Communist Party, which was then prerequisite for all those specialists who planned to occupy leadership positions in the future. And in 1981, Nikolai Ryzhkov made another career transition - he was elected as a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Soviet Union. And in the period from November 22 to October 15, 1985, he was the Secretary of this main organization in the country. In parallel with this, he was also the head of the Economic Department of the CPSU Central Committee. Also for five years he was a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee.

The politician himself says that for such high positions he turned out to be thanks to the very good personal attitude of Yuri Andropov towards him. Immediately after entering the political elite, Ryzhkov began to delve into the situation in the country, proposing reforms in order to correct the difficult situation. economic situation in the state.

Nikolai Ivanovich accepted the beginning of Gorbachev’s reign with joy, because he believed that this person had the ability to reform a decaying power. In 1985, Nikolai Ryzhkov was a government figure of the highest rank, because he was entrusted with the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, which automatically made him the second person in the country. As Prime Minister, he was able to make a huge contribution to minimizing the consequences of the Chernobyl accident and the earthquake in Spitak. It was Ryzhkov who was involved in developing the economic restructuring program. For this, he suffered from liberals who accused him of indecision, and communists who believed that Nicholas had become a traitor and moved away from the ideals of communism. As a result, in December 1985, the politician literally suffered a heart attack, and therefore he was forced to retire.

New era

But many were mistaken in thinking that Nikolai Ryzhkov had finally left politics. In 1991, he decided to run for the presidency of Russia and only slightly lost to Yeltsin. And in 1995 he ends up in State Duma, where he will subsequently be able to stay for three convocations. In 2003 he joined the Federation Council. There he deals with issues of natural monopolies. Fully supports the policies of Vladimir Putin.

Personal life

Despite the fact that Nikolai Ryzhkov is the chairman of many government agencies both in the past and in the present, he is still the same person as we all are. This can be judged by his affections. So, he really likes to communicate with people, write articles, read domestic and foreign literature, listen to music, watch good films. Nikolai Ivanovich has been living with his wife for many years. In 1956, their daughter Marina was born, who subsequently gave her parents two grandchildren.

On May 24, 1990, during a live broadcast from the session hall of the Supreme Council, he stated that the cost of bread and other food products was unjustifiably low and should be higher, which led to huge panic in the consumer environment.

In December 1991, he was one of the initiators of an appeal to the President of the USSR, which spoke of a ban on the dissolution of the state in Belovezhskaya Pushcha.

On the first day of March 2014, during a meeting of the Federation Council, he voted positively for issuing permission for President Putin to send troops into Ukraine if necessary. Ryzhkov has an extremely negative attitude towards Maidan itself, believing that this riot brought nationalists to power in the republic. And within two weeks, Nikolai Ivanovich was included in the sanctions list of the European Union.

During his life, Ryzhkov managed to visit not only the political and industrial environment, but also worked as the head of the board of directors of Tveruniversalbank.

The now deceased oppositionist Boris Nemtsov considered Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov an excellent leader of any enterprise, but an extremely disgusting and useless prime minister.

Our hero has many state awards, and is also an honorary resident of several cities.