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.
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