Viktor Chernomyrdin

(b. Orenburg region, 9 Apr. 1938) Russian; president of Council of Ministers of Russian Federation 1992 – 6 An engineer by education, Chernomyrdin made his career in the oil and gas industry in the Orenburg region, where he managed an enterprise 1973 – 8. A member of the CPSU from 1961, in the 1980s he served as deputy minister, later Minister of the Gas Industry (1985 – 9) and head of Tyumen gas extraction. He was a member of the CPSU Central Committee 1986 – 90 and a deputy to the USSR Supreme Soviet 1987 – 9. Under Yeltsin in 1992 he was deputy Prime Minister for the fuel and energy complex, and in December 1992 he was appointed Prime Minister as a moderate compromise candidate acceptable to the parliament, following the rejection of the reformer Gaidar. Backed by the powerful oil-gas and military-industrial lobbies and ensuring their support for the government, he pursued a steady if cautious pace of economic reform and proved able to survive crises such as the parliamentary confrontation of 1993 and the Chechnya invasion of 1995 (from which he emerged with some credit). But he is a rather grey figure with little mass base, as was shown by the poor results of his party "Our home is Russia" in the December 1995 elections, which persuaded him not to stand against Yeltsin in the 1996 presidential elections.

(b. 1938), prime minister of the Russian Federation from December 1992 to March 1998.

Trained in western Siberia as an engineer and later an economist, Viktor Chernomyrdin alternated between working as a communist party official who monitored industrial enterprises and actually running such enterprises in the gas industry. From 1978 he worked in the heavy industry department of the party's central apparatus in Moscow, before becoming minister for the oil and gas industries in 1985. In 1989 he was a pioneer in turning part of his ministry into the state-owned gas company Gazprom. He was the first chairman of the board, and oversaw and benefited from its partial privatization.

In 1990 he ran for the newly formed Russian Republic (RSFSR) Congress of People's Deputies, but lost. In May 1992 President Yeltsin appointed him a deputy prime minister of the newly independent Russian Federation. In December, following an advisory vote of the Congress in which he finished second, a politically besieged Yeltsin made him prime minister. Although a typical Soviet official in most respects, Chernomyrdin gradually adapted to free market processes. His concern not to move too precipitately on economic reform enabled him, with his powers of conciliation and compromise, to appease the communists in some measure throughout the 1990s. They looked to him to moderate the radicalism of the "shock therapist" wing of the government.

In the regime crisis of fall 1993, when, violating the Constitution, Yeltsin dispersed the parliament by military force amid much bloodshed, Chernomyrdin supported Yeltsin without wavering. His reputation suffered as a result of both this and his poor handling of the financial crisis of October 1994 (Black Tuesday). Nonetheless, in April 1995 he founded the first avowedly pro-government political party, "Our Home is Russia", which was covertly funded by Gazprom. This was designed to create a reliable, pro-Yeltsin bloc in the parliament elected in December 1995. However, although Chernomyrdin predicted that it would win almost a third of the 450 seats, in the event it got only 55, gaining the support of a mere 10.1 percent of voters. Apart from the fact that he was a weak leader, it had suffered from public allegations by prominent figures that his earlier leadership of Gazprom had enabled him to accumulate personal wealth of some five billion dollars. Apparently his denials did not convince many voters. Later, the public documentation of massive corruption in his government did not evoke even pro forma denials.

In March 1998 Yeltsin dismissed him without explanation, only to nominate him as acting prime minister the following August. However, the parliament twice refused to confirm him, seeing him as one of the individuals most responsible for the financial collapse of that month. So the floundering president withdrew his nomination. However, Yeltsin named him the next spring as his special representative to work with NATO on resolving the Yugoslav crisis over Kosovo.

In 1999 and 2000 Chernomyrdin chaired the Gazprom Council of Directors, and from 1999 to 2001 he was a parliamentary deputy for the pro-Kremlin party Unity. In 2001 President Putin made him ambassador to Ukraine. Here he supervised a creeping Russian takeover of the Ukrainian gas industry that stemmed from Ukraine's inability to finance its massive gas imports from Russia.

Bibliography

Reddaway, Peter, and Glinski, Dmitri. (2001). The Tragedy of Russia's Reforms: Market Bolshevism Against Democracy. Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press.

Shevtsova, Lilia. (1999). Yeltsin's Russia: Myths and Reality. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

—PETER REDDAWAY

Viktor Chernomyrdin Виктор Черномырдин
Prime Minister of Russia
In office 14 December 1992 – 23 March 1998
President	Boris Yeltsin
Preceded by	Yegor Gaidar
Succeeded by	Sergei Kiriyenko
In office 23 August 1998 – 11 September 1998
Preceded by	Sergei Kiriyenko
Succeeded by	Yevgeny Primakov
Born	9 April 1938 (1938-04-09) (age 71)
Political party	Our Home is Russia

Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (Russian: Ви́ктор Степа́нович Черномы́рдин) (born 9 April 1938) is a Russian politician. Chernomyrdin was Prime Minister of Russia from 1992 to 1998. From 2001 to 2009, he was Russia's ambassador to Ukraine. After that, he was designated as a presidential adviser.^[1]

Contents 1 Youth and education 2 Career 3 Chernomyrdin's idioms 4 References 5 External links

Youth and education

Chernomyrdin's father was a labourer. Viktor was one of his five children. Chernomyrdin completed school education in 1957 and found employment as a mechanic in an oil refinery in Orsk. He worked there until 1962, except for two years of compulsory military service from 1957 to 1960. His other occupations on the plant during this period included machinist, operator and chief of technical installations^{[citation needed]}.

He became a member of the CPSU in 1961.

In 1962, he was admitted to Kuybyshev Industrial Institute (which was later renamed Samara Polytechnical Institute). In his entrance exams he performed very poorly. He failed maths and had to take the exam again, getting a C. He got only one B in Russian language, and Cs in the other tests. He was admitted only because of very low competition. In 1966 he graduated from this institute. In 1972 he completed further studies at the Department of Economics of the Union-wide Polytechnic Institute by correspondence^{[citation needed]}.

Career

During 1967-1973 he was involved in CPSU work in Orsk.

During 1973-1978 he worked as the director of the natural gas refinering plant in Orenburg.

During 1978-1982 he worked in the heavy industry arm of CC CPSU.

In 1982, he was appointed deputy Minister of the natural gas industries of the Soviet Union. Concurrently, beginning from 1983, he directed Glavtyumengazprom, an industry association for natural gas resource development in Tyumen Oblast. During 1985-1989 he was the Minister of gas industries.

In 1989, when the Ministry of Oil and Gas was converted into the government company Gazprom, Chernomyrdin was elected its chairman.

In May 1992, Boris Yeltsin appointed Chernomyrdin deputy prime minister in charge of fuel and energy.

On 14 December 1992, Chernomyrdin was confirmed by the VII Congress of People's Deputies of Russia as Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation.

In April 1995, he formed a political bloc called Our Home – Russia, which was aimed at becoming the central force in the parliament, but failed in this, gaining only 10% of votes.

On 18 June 1995, as a result of Shamil Basayev-led terrorists taking over 1500 people hostage in Budyonnovsk, negotiations between Chernomyrdin and Basayev led to a compromise which became a turning point for the First Chechen War. In exchange for the hostages, the Russian government agreed to halt military actions in Chechnya and begin a series of negotiations.^[2]

Chernomyrdin with Vladimir Putin in June 2001 after being appointed as Ambassador of Russia to Ukraine.

He was Acting President of the Russian Federation for 23 hours on 6 November 1996, when Boris Yeltsin was undergoing a heart operation.^[3][4]

Chernomyrdin remained prime minister until his dismissal in March 1998. Following the 1998 Russian financial crisis in August, Yeltsin re-appointed Chernomyrdin as prime minister, but the Duma refused to confirm this.

In December 1999 he was elected a member of the Duma.

In May 2001, Vladimir Putin appointed Chernomyrdin Ambassador of Russia to Ukraine. This action was interpreted by some Russian media agencies as a move to distance Chernomyrdin from the centre of Russian politics. In 2003, he dismissed talk of an apology for the Holodomor Famine.^[5]

In February 2009 Chernomyrdin again strained the relations between Ukraine and Russia when he in an interview said "It is impossible to come to an agreement on anything with the Ukrainian leadership. If different people come in, we´ll see". The Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a response it could declare Chernomyrdin "persona non grata" over the row.^[6]

On 11 June 2009, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev relieved Chernomyrdin as Russian Ambassador in Kiev, and appointed him as "presidential adviser and special presidential representative on economic cooperation with CIS member countries".^[1][7] In a parting shot at the Ukrainian government, Chernomyrdin stated that Russia should not apologise to Ukraine over voicing its suspicions about Ukraine being unable to pay for its natural gas, and further stated that Russia wants Ukraine to pay for the gas it consumes, and hence Russia is right to be concerned about the solvency of the Ukrainian state.^[8]

Chernomyrdin's idioms

In Russian-speaking countries, Chernomyrdin is famous for his numerous malapropisms and syntactically incorrect speech.^[9]

One of his expressions "We wanted the best, but it turned out as always" about the economic reforms in Russia became a popular proverb^[10][11] (Хотели как лучше, а получилось как всегда in Russian). The phrase was uttered after a highly unsuccessful monetary exchange performed by the Russian Central Bank in July 1993.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Dmitry Medvedev appointed Viktor Chernomyrdin presidential adviser on economic cooperation with CIS member countries and relieved him of his previous duties.". Presidential Press and Information Office. 11 June 2009. http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/sdocs/news.shtml?month=06&day=11&year=2009&Submit.x=3&Submit.y=6&prefix=&value_from=&value_to=&date=&stype=&dayRequired=no&day_enable=true#. Retrieved 2009-06-12. 
2. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/01/world/facing-threat-in-parliament-yeltsin-removes-3-ministers.html?pagewanted=all
3. ^ Hoffman, David (1996-11-06). "Yeltsin Heart Operation Called a Success". The Washington Post (The Washington Post Company). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/russiagov/stories/success110696.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 
4. ^ Decree of President of Russian Federation No. 1378 of 19 September 1996; Temporary discharge of duty of President of Russian Federation
5. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4471256.stm
6. ^ "Russia warns it will hit back if Ukraine expels envoy - reports". Ukrainian Independent Information Agency. 2009-01-18. http://www.unian.net/eng/news/news-301448.html. Retrieved 2009-02-21. 
7. ^ "Chernomyrdin dismissed as Russian ambassador to Ukraine". Moscow: RIA Novosti. 11 June 2009. http://en.rian.ru/world/20090611/155230948.html. Retrieved 2009-06-12. 
8. ^ "No reason why Russia should apologize to Ukraine - Chernomyrdin". Kiev: ITAR-TASS. 12 June 2009. http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/prnt.html?NewsID=14043153. Retrieved 2009-06-12. 
9. ^ Collection of Chernomyrdin's quotes at a Russian humouristic website (in Russian)
10. ^ A story of the main Chernomyrdin's proverb by Konstantin Dushenko, an aphorism collector (in Russian)
11. ^ Google search for the main Chernomyrdin's proverb quoted and re-used (in Russian)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Viktor Chernomyrdin

• Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin from The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2007, and related articles
• Man in the News; Kremlin's Technocrat: Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin By Steven Erlanger The New York Times 15 December 1992.

Political offices
Preceded by Yegor Gaidar	Prime Minister of Russia 1992 – 1998	Succeeded by Sergei Kiriyenko
Preceded by Sergei Kiriyenko	Prime Minister of Russia 1998	Succeeded by Yevgeny Primakov

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