Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov; uk, Микола Онисимович Щолоков ( – 13 December 1984) was a Soviet statesman and army general who served sixteen years as

minister of internal affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...

from 17 September 1966 to 17 December 1982. He was fired from all posts on corruption charges and committed suicide on 13 December 1984.

Early life and education

Shchelokov was born in

Almazna Almazna ( uk, Алма́зна (Almázna, russian: Алмáзная (Almaznaya) is a small city in Stakhanov Municipality, Luhansk Oblast of Ukraine. The population of Almazna was estimated to be . Industries within Almazna include metallurgy and ...

, a large

Cossack The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...

village near

Luhansk Luhansk (, ; uk, Луганськ, ), also known as Lugansk (, ; russian: Луганск, ), is a city in what is internationally recognised as Ukraine, although it is administered by Russia as capital of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). A ...

Donbas The Donbas or Donbass (, ; uk, Донба́с ; russian: Донба́сс ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are controlled by Russian separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrai ...

region of

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, on 26 November 1910. His father was a mine worker, and Shchelokov himself began working in the mines when he was fifteen years old. He attended Dzerzhinsky Metallurgical Institute and received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

metallurgical engineering Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

in 1933.

Career

Communist Party

Shchelokov joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1931. In 1938, he was appointed first secretary of its committee in the Krasnogvardeysky district of

Dnipro Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

petrovsk. From 1939 to 1941 he was the chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk City Soviet under

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet Union, Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Gener ...

who was the first secretary of the

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ( uk, Дніпропетро́вська о́бласть, translit=Dnipropetrovska oblast), also referred to as Dnipropetrovshchyna ( uk, Дніпропетро́вщина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, obla ...

. Since then, Brezhnev and Shchelokov forged very strong ties and continued supporting each other in their political careers until Brezhnev's death.

World War II

At the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Shchelokov was promoted to the rank of commissar in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

while remaining the chairman of the City Soviet of Dnipropetrovsk. He served as a political commissar in the army from 1941 to 1946.

Brezhnev's clan

After the war, Shchelokov resumed to work as a politician in Ukraine from 1947 to 1951. He was part of the

Dnipropetrovsk Mafia The "Dnipropetrovsk Mafia" was the name given to an informal group of Soviet politicians who held high office while Leonid Brezhnev was First Secretary or General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1964–82, whom he ...

, consisting of several allies to Brezhnev, including

Andrei Kirilenko Andrei Gennadyevich Kirilenko (russian: Андрей Геннадьевич Кириленко; born February 18, 1981) is a Russian-American basketball executive and former professional basketball player, currently the commissioner of the Russ ...

and

Volodymyr Shcherbytsky Volodymyr Vasylyovych Shcherbytsky, russian: Влади́мир Васи́льевич Щерби́цкий; ''Vladimir Vasilyevich Shcherbitsky'', (17 February 1918 — 16 February 1990) was a Ukrainian Soviet politician. He was First Secr ...

, when Brezhnev was head of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast party committee, or obkom. Following the appointment of Brezhnev as the first secretary of the

Communist Party of Moldavia The Communist Party of Moldavia ( ro, Partidul Comunist al Moldovei, PCM; Moldovan Cyrillic: Партидул Комунист ал Молдовей; russian: Коммунистическая партия Молдавии) was the ruling and the ...

, Shchelokov followed him, becoming second secretary and Brezhnev's

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

deputy in 1951, and he was also named first deputy premier of the

Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ( ro, Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic: ) was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on 2 August 1940 ...

. In the same period, he became a member in the Supreme Soviet.

Chief of the Soviet Police (1966-1982)

Shchelokov was appointed by Brezhnev as minister of public order on 17 September 1966. On 25 November 1968, the Ministry of Public Order (MOOP) was renamed as

Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

(MVD) with the title of Shchelokov's office renamed accordingly. He was promoted to the rank of general on 12 September 1976, while serving as interior minister. He was also the Soviet Union's top police officer. One of Shchelokov's deputies at the ministry was Brezhnev's son-in-law, Yuri Churbanov.

Downfall

Five weeks after the death of Brezhnev, on 17 December 1982, Shchelokov was replaced as interior minister by KGB chairman

Vitaly Fedorchuk Vitaly Vasilyevich Fedorchuk (russian: Виталий Васильевич Федорчук; uk, Віталій Васильович Федорчук, translit=Vitalii Vasylovych Fedorchuk; 27 December 1918 – 29 February 2008) was a Ukrainian ...

, a measure seen as influenced by

Yuri Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (– 9 February 1984) was the sixth paramount leader of the Soviet Union and the fourth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After Leonid Brezhnev's 18-year rule, Andropov served in the po ...

, Fedorchuk's predecessor as head of the KGB and newly-elected general secretary of the Communist Party as well as an opponent of the Dnipropetrovsk Mafia. Shchelokov's dismissal was due to corruption charges against him. After leaving office, Shchelokov began work as chief of a police unit at a gas pipeline construction site in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

. On 15 June 1983, he was dismissed from the central committee of the Communist Party on allegations of corruption during his tenure, as part of Andropov's anti-corruption campaign. His son Igor was also removed from his post in the

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...

shortly after. Later reports argued that his wife and son had also been involved in illegal acts of selling and buying foreign cars. It was further argued that Shchelokov spent huge amounts of state money to buy luxury items for personal use. On 6 November 1984, his military rank of army general was withdrawn by the state, and on 7 December he was expelled from the Communist Party. In 1988, author Raul M. Mir-Haidarov argued that Shchelokov had been the godfather of the Uzbek mob.

Death

Shchelokov committed suicide by gunshot to his head using his own hunting rifle from his collection of rarities at his suburban mansion in Moscow on 13 December 1984. He was buried on 15 December in Vagankovo cemetery in Moscow. His wife Svetlana predeceased him having committed suicide on 19 February 1983.

Honours and awards

Shchelokov was awarded the followings: the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

(three times), the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...

(twice), the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (Second Class), the

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War (russian: Орден Отечественной войны, Orden Otechestvennoy voiny) is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisan ...

(First Class), the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

, the

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star (russian: Орден Красной Звезды, Orden Krasnoy Zvezdy) was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 193 ...

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour (russian: links=no, Герой Социалистического Труда, Geroy Sotsialisticheskogo Truda) was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It repre ...

and various medals. He was stripped of all civilian awards and honors on 12 December 1984.

Soviet

Badge "Honored Worker of the Ministry of Internal Affairs"

Foreign

Notes

References

External links