Yeltsin's political patron and CPSU defence secretary who forced the T-72 tank through against Ustinov's opposition
As the T-72 tore past at 70 km/h throwing sparks from the cobblestones, Marshal Grechko said: 'Nothing to report. The tank goes into production.' He got Brezhnev on the line and added: 'To hell with Ustinov and all his twisting and turning!'
Yakov Ryabov was a Soviet party-state administrator who served as First Secretary of the Sverdlovsk Oblast Committee (1971–1976) and CPSU Central Committee Secretary (1976–1979) with responsibility for the defence industry. A Ural engineer promoted by Andrei Kirilenko, he built a powerful Sverdlovsk party machine and was Boris Yeltsin's political patron, hand-picking him as his successor. As defence secretary he clashed with Dmitry Ustinov over the T-72 tank. A live-fire demonstration for Marshal Grechko broke Ustinov's resistance and made the T-72 the main Soviet battle tank. He later served as First Deputy Chairman of Gosplan, Chairman of GKES, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers (1984–1986), and Ambassador to France (1986–1990), before falling out with Gorbachev and Ryzhkov over perestroika.
Career Timeline
- 1943–1944Turner, Factory No. 9
- 1946–1960Engineer to chief designer, shop head, and party committee secretary, Sverdlovsk Turbomotor Plant
- 1960–1963First Secretary, Ordzhonikidze District Committee, Sverdlovsk
- 1963–1966First Secretary, Sverdlovsk City Committee
- 1966–1971Second Secretary, Sverdlovsk Oblast Committee
- 1971–1976First Secretary, Sverdlovsk Oblast Committee
- 1971–1990Member, CPSU Central Committee
- 1976–1979Secretary, CPSU Central Committee (overseeing defence and military industry)
- 1979–1983First Deputy Chairman, USSR Gosplan
- 1983–1984Chairman, USSR State Committee for Foreign Economic Relations
- 1984–1986Deputy Chairman, USSR Council of Ministers (chemical industry)
- 1986–1990Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR to France