Ivan Silaev, the last head of the government of Russia within the USSR, died

The last chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, i.e. the head of the Russian government within the USSR, Ivan Silaev died on February 8 at the age of 93 in Nizhny Novgorod. The Sokol aircraft factory, whose director the official was in the 1970s, reported this on social networks on Thursday.

Silaev is an aircraft engineer, at a military aircraft factory he went on a career path from foreman to director, after which he was promoted to the Soviet government. He was the Minister of Machine Tool and Instrument Industry of the USSR, Minister of Aviation Industry, Deputy Head of the Soviet Government. In 1986, he headed the government commission to liquidate the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

In 1990, on the initiative of the future president Boris Yeltsin, he was appointed head of the government of the RSFSR. He resigned a year later. In his memoirs, Boris Yeltsin explained the official’s departure from the post of head of the Russian government as follows: “With all due respect to Ivan Stepanovich Silaev, I understood that such a person could not continue in this position. The time has come to bring an economist with his concept… The time has come decisive actions in the economy”.

During the putsch in 1991, Silaev opposed the GKChP. In an interview with the magazine “Russkaya zhizn”, he later said that he did not consider himself a democrat, “but otherwise he could not”.

In the fall of 1991, Silaev was appointed the head of the Interstate Committee on Economic Policy — the prime minister of the failed CIS government. He was Russia’s ambassador to the European Communities in Brussels for three years. He was engaged in business, was a member of the board of directors of the Yukos oil company. For his work, he was awarded two of the highest Soviet awards – the Order of Lenin, the title of Hero of Socialist Labor and other orders and medals.

• In the Soviet government, Silaev oversaw the creation of the Buran spacecraft, An-124 Ruslan and Il-86 transport aircraft, MiG-29, MiG-31, Su-27 fighters, Ka-26 and Mi-24 helicopters, while the construction project of the super-heavy transport aircraft An-225 “Mriya” was approved by him.