Ryzhkov, Nikolai Ivanovich << RIHZ kawf, nih ko LY ih VAH nuh vyihch >> (1929-2024), was premier of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1990. He resigned in December 1990 after suffering a heart attack. As premier—officially chairman of the Council of Ministers—Ryzhkov was chief administrator of the Soviet government. A specialist in economic planning, Ryzhkov helped oversee efforts to make the Soviet economy more productive.
Ryzhkov was born on Sept. 28, 1929, in the Donetsk oblast (province) in Ukraine. He received an engineering degree from Ural Polytechnic Institute (now Ural Federal University) in 1959. Ryzhkov joined the Communist Party in 1956. He became first deputy minister of heavy machinery in 1975, and was appointed first deputy chairman of Gosplan, the Soviet economic planning commission, in 1979.
In 1982, Ryzhkov became a member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party’s Central Committee. On this committee, he had responsibility for economic affairs. Ryzhkov was a full member of the party’s policymaking Politburo from 1985 to 1990.
