The last treasurer who guarded the party coffers through perestroika
At the 28th Party Congress on July 9, 1990, Kruchina disclosed from the podium that the CPSU Central Committee held a reserve of 4.9 billion rubles — the only moment in party history when its finances were laid bare before the delegates.
Born in rural Altai and trained as an agronomist, Kruchina rose through the Komsomol and party agricultural apparatus. As First Secretary of the Tselinograd Oblast Committee (1965–1978), he directed the Kazakh virgin lands campaign and became a Hero of Socialist Labor. In 1983, with Gorbachev's backing, he became Administrator of Affairs of the CPSU Central Committee: the party's chief treasurer, overseeing its property, foreign aid, and the 'party gold.' At the 28th Party Congress in 1990, glasnost forced him to reveal a party reserve of 4.9 billion rubles. Days after the failed August 1991 coup, he fell to his death from his Moscow apartment; similar fatal falls of his predecessor Pavlov and official Lisovolik made him central to the mystery of the party's missing billions.
Career Timeline
- 1952–1959First Secretary of Novocherkassk, Kamensk and Smolensk Komsomol committees
- 1959–1962Head of Rural Youth Department, Komsomol Central Committee
- 1962–1963Instructor, Agricultural Department, CPSU Central Committee
- 1963–1965Secretary, Tselinny Krai Committee, CP Kazakhstan
- 1965–1978First Secretary, Tselinograd Oblast Committee, CP Kazakhstan
- 1978–1983First Deputy Head, Agricultural Department, CPSU Central Committee
- 1983–1991Administrator of Affairs, CPSU Central Committee (party finances and property)