Technocrat who ran Soviet heavy machine-building in its late decades
When Ustinov ordered mortar production at his plant, his minister Afanasyev warned: 'Make one and I hand you to the prosecutor.' Velichko organized a 'heroic storm,' delivered them, and recalled it as 'nervous, not to say absurd, conditions.'
A technocrat who rose from lathe operator to director of Leningrad's Bolshevik plant, Velichko served as minister for energy, heavy, and transport machine-building (1975–1991) and First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers (1991). His ministries built the Atommash nuclear complex, reactor systems for over a dozen nuclear plants, ICBM ground equipment, and the Buran shuttle launch complex. When other industrial ministries faltered in the late 1980s, his proved resilient enough that the government twice consolidated troubled ministries under his leadership. After the Soviet collapse he remained an industrial elder, chairing Tyazhenergomash and advising on Russian industrial policy.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1954–1955Lathe operator, Bolshevik plant, Leningrad
- 1955–1962Studied mechanical engineering, Leningrad Mechanical Institute
- 1962–1971Engineer → bureau chief → deputy director for production, Bolshevik plant
- 1971–1975Director, Bolshevik plant, Leningrad
- 1975–1983First Deputy Minister of Power Machine Building, USSR
- 1983–1987Minister of Power Machine Building, USSR
- 1987–1989Minister of Heavy, Power and Transport Machine Building, USSR
- 1989–1991Minister of Heavy Machine Building, USSR
- 1991.1–8First Deputy Chairman, USSR Council of Ministers
- 1991–2016Chairman, Tyazhenergomash → TENMA → FPG Tyazhenergomash
Production management at the Leningrad Bolshevik plant
From 1962 Velichko worked at Leningrad’s Bolshevik plant, first as assistant foreman and foreman in the mechanical-assembly shop, then as head of its technical bureau in 1963 and deputy shop chief for production preparation in 1964. While employed there, he studied at the Leningrad Engineering-Economic Institute and qualified as an engineer-economist. He became deputy shop chief for production in 1966, deputy plant director for production in 1967, and plant director on 19 August 1971. During his leadership the plant mass-produced launch equipment and transport-launch containers for the A-35 missile-defense system, as well as ground equipment for the S-75 air-defense system; it developed and manufactured launchers and ground equipment for the S-200 and S-300 systems and ground equipment for intercontinental ballistic missile launch complexes. The plant also produced missile launchers for large naval vessels and launch installations for submarines. In June 1975 he left the plant after being appointed First Deputy Minister of Power Machine Building.