Volodymyr Shcherbytsky
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Volodymyr Vasylyovych Shcherbytsky (Ukrainian: Володимир Васильович Щербицький, Russian: Владимир Васильевич Щербицкий) (17 February 1918 - 17 February 1990) was a Ukrainian and Soviet politician. He was a leader of the Communist Party of Ukraine from 1972 to 1989.
One of the most influential figures in the Soviet Union, a member of Soviet politburo since 1971, he was a close ally to the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. His rule of Ukraine was characterized by the expanded policies of re-centralisation and suppression of dissent. At the same time, he stil allowed Ukrainian-language to keep circulating side-by-side with Russian in this traditionally billingual region.
He was one of the supporters of Gorbachev in his takeover of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 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 demonstration in Kiev only 5 days after the accident happened, when the public was still severely exposed to nuclear radiation.
[edit] External links
- Shcherbytsky Volodymyr Vasylyovych, from the Ukrainian Government Portal
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