Boris Yevdokimovich Shcherbina (; ; 5 October 1919 – 22 August 1990) was a Ukrainian Soviet politician who served as a Deputy Chairman of the

Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Совет министров СССР, r=Sovet Ministrov SSSR, p=sɐˈvʲet mʲɪˈnʲistrəf ˌɛsˌɛsˌɛsˈɛr), sometimes abbreviated as Sovmin or referred to as the ...

from 1984 to 1989. Originally from Ukraine, Shcherbina was influential in the development of the oil and gas industry in Siberia, particularly in

Tyumen Oblast Tyumen Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. It is located in Western Siberia, and is administratively part of the Ural Federal District. The oblast has administrative jurisdiction over two autonomous ...

. In 1986, he was appointed head of the Chernobyl commission to investigate the cause of the disaster and oversee its management. Two years later, he was put in charge of handling refugees caused by the 1988 Armenian earthquake. Shcherbina retired in 1989, before dying in 1990. It is unknown how much radiation caused by Chernobyl influenced his death.

Early life and education

Boris Shcherbina was born in Debaltsevo,

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

(now Debaltseve in

Donetsk Oblast Donetsk Oblast, also referred to as Donechchyna (, ), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its capital city, administrative centre is Donetsk, though d ...

) on October 5, 1919 to the family of a Ukrainian railroad worker. He completed his secondary education in 1937. Further education was interrupted in 1939 when he volunteered to join the army and fight in the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

against

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

as part of the 316th ski squadron. After Shcherbina graduated from the

Kharkov Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

Institute of Rail Transport Engineers in 1942, he began working as an engineer on the Severo-Donetsk Railway during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the war, he graduated from the party school of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine in 1948.

Political career

Shcherbina had been a member of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

(CPSU) since 1939. Between 1942 and 1944, he was the secretary of the Kharkov oblast committee of the

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

, and he also worked in the apparatus of the Central Committee of the All-Union Komsomol between 1942 and 1943. Shcherbina then began working in Kharkov as a junior official before becoming a secretary of Kharkov's regional committee of the CPSU in 1950. Additionally, he was the second secretary of the Ordzhonikidze District Committee of the CPSU between 1948 and 1951. In 1951, Shcherbina was transferred to

Irkutsk Oblast Irkutsk Oblast (; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara River, Angara, Lena River, Lena, and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers. The administrative center is ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

where he became a secretary (1951-1956), and then the second secretary of the Irkutsk regional committee of the CPSU (1956-1961). He was transferred again in 1961, this time to Tyumen Oblast in

Western Siberia Western Siberia or West Siberia ( rus, Западная Сибирь, p=ˈzapədnəjə sʲɪˈbʲirʲ; , ) is a region in North Asia. It is part of the wider region of Siberia that is mostly located in the Russia, Russian Federation, with a Sout ...

where he became the first secretary of the Tyumen regional committee of the CPSU between April 1961 and December 1973. Additionally, Shcherbina had been a member of the Central Committee since 1961 as a candidate member, and since 1976 as a full member. In Tyumen, he was responsible for the rapid growth in the oblast's oil and gas industry. Following the advice of experts, Shcherbina increased geological explorations in Tyumen in 1962 to unearth the region's oil and gas potential, with the results coming in not soon after confirming this potential. In the early 60s Tyumen produced 209,000 tons of oil and gas, in 1965 it was producing 953,000 tons. Around 1970, it was now producing 31.4 million tons. In March 1970, he made an unusual disclosure in revealing one of the largest oil fields in the world - the Samotlor field in Tyumen Oblast - through '' Sovetskaya Rossiya'' by reporting on its estimated reserves''.'' He also worked to attract young people to Tyumen by constructing youth projects in relation to the Komsomol. He also oversaw housing projects to accommodate the flow of workers into the region, particularly in

Surgut Surgut ( rus, Сургу́т, p=sʊrˈgut; Khanty: Сәрханӆ, ''Sərhanł, Сө̆ркут, sörkut'') is a city in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located on the Ob River near its junction with the Irtysh River. It is one of the fe ...

, where he prioritised providing enough space for workers and their families. During his time in Tyumen, Shcherbina personally worked hard and often criticised parts of the government for restricting certain construction projects, such as the construction of cultural and sport institutions in Tyumen. On 11 December 1973, Shcherbina was appointed the Minister of Construction of Oil and Gas Industries, which he held up to 13 January 1984. As minister, he directed the construction of the Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhhorod pipeline connecting the Urengoi gas field in Western Siberia to Uzhgorod near the Czechoslovak border in Ukraine. For his role in hastening construction, Shcherbina was decorated with the title

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an Title of honor, honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievem ...

and a few awards, including an

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

, on 6 October 1983. On 13 January 1984, Shcherbina was appointed as a Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers under

Nikolai Tikhonov Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tikhonov ( – 1 June 1997) was a Soviet Russian-Ukrainian statesman during the Cold War. He served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1980 to 1985, and as a First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, ...

. Alongside Shcherbina, Tikhonov had eleven other deputies. He held this position to 7 June 1989. Additionally, he was Chairman of the Bureau of the Council of Ministers of the USSR for the Fuel and Energy Complex.

Chernobyl disaster

On 26 April 1986, the No. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near

Pripyat Pripyat, also known as Prypiat, is an abandoned industrial city in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, located near the border with Belarus. Named after the nearby river, Pripyat (river), Pripyat, it was founded on 4 February 1970 as the ninth ''atomgrad'' ...

northern Ukraine This is a list of historical regions in present-day Ukraine. Main historical regions Traditional regions The traditional names of the regions of Ukraine are important geographic, historical, and ethnographic identifiers. * Over-Dnieper ...

exploded in the early morning. A few hours after the disaster, the

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

became informed of the disaster. Soviet leader

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers

Nikolai Ryzhkov Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov (; ; 28 September 1929 – 28 February 2024) was a Russian politician. He served as the last Premier of the Soviet Union, chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 and was succeeded b ...

decided then to form a commission headed by Shcherbina. Shcherbina was at this point the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and a fairly low-level member of the government. As head of the commission, he was given the task of both investigating the cause of the disaster and remedying the situation. As Shcherbina was in Siberia at this time, he only arrived in Chernobyl late on the night of 26 April. Prior to this, two groups of experts had been flown to Chernobyl. A joint meeting between members of the commission and members of the Chernobyl district committee of the CPSU was held at 10:00 a.m. on 27 April, where Shcherbina and the commission announced that they would evacuate nearby residents the same day. According to ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', Shcherbina had initially rejected appeals for an immediate evacuation of the area from civil defence workers, citing "panic is even worse than radiation." He and other officials who arrived in Chernobyl were described as "absolutely incompetent" by Grigori Medvedev, former chief engineer at the No. 1 reactor in Chernobyl and author of '' The Truth About Chernobyl''. On 6 May, Shcherbina gave the first Soviet news conference on the disaster where he admitted that people living near the nuclear plant had been exposed to its radiation for 36 hours before evacuation, although he didn't state the levels they were exposed to. He also said that local officials had underestimated the size of the accident. This followed widespread foreign criticism of the USSR for its handling of Chernobyl. Although Shcherbina and other officials read out prepared scripts, portions of the conference, such as the possibility of cancer development following radiation exposure, were omitted when shown on Soviet television. In contrast to what he later said to the Politburo on 3 July 1986, Shcherbina said that Chernobyl met all Soviet and international standards. In June 1986, he submitted the commission's report to the Central Committee's Strategic Group containing the commission's findings in non-technical terms. In a Politburo session on 3 July 1986 chaired by Gorbachev, Shcherbina presented the findings from the commission's investigation where he blamed both the staff of Chernobyl, but also the design of RBMK reactors. Excerpts of the session later published by the head of the Federal Archival Agency of Russia Rudolph Pikhoia disclosed Shcherbina's full presentation to the Politburo. At the session, Shcherbina reported the main findings of the commission's report. He began by laying the blame on the nuclear plant's leadership - the Ministry of Energy and Electrification and the government company ''SoyuzAtomEnergo'' - for creating a culture of carelessness and failing to learn from previous accidents. He then described the events that led to the disaster, including design flaws present in RBMK reactors where Shcherbina also reported that the commission found that the Ministry of Medium Machine Building,

Kurchatov Institute The Kurchatov Institute (, National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute") is Russia's leading research and development institution in the field of nuclear power, nuclear energy. It is named after Igor Kurchatov and is located at 1 Kurchatov Sq ...

, and the RBMK reactor designers held some responsibility for the disaster. He described RBMK reactors as being "incompatible with modern safety requirements.” Two days later on 5 July, the USSR's official press agency

TASS The Russian News Agency TASS, or simply TASS, is a Russian state-owned news agency founded in 1904. It is the largest Russian news agency and one of the largest news agencies worldwide. TASS is registered as a Federal State Unitary Enterpri ...

reported that the government had replaced Shcherbina with Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Gusev as head of the Chernobyl commission amid rumours of Shcherbina's declining health and hospitalisation from

radiation exposure Radiation exposure is a measure of the ionization of air due to ionizing radiation from photons. It is defined as the electric charge freed by such radiation in a specified volume of air divided by the mass of that air. As of 2007, "medical radia ...

. Shcherbina was present at the Soviet signing of two treaties from the

International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology, nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was ...

in Vienna in response to the Chernobyl disaster - the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident and the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency. At the signing, he declared that the USSR "will comply with both conventions.''

1988 Armenian earthquake

On 7 December 1988, a devastating earthquake occurred in northern

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. In response to the humanitarian crisis, the Soviet government formed a special commission to handle refugees in Armenia and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

, and to give material aid to the region. Shcherbina was appointed as head of the commission.

Personal life

Shcherbina was married to Raisa Pavlovna until her death in 1984. The two had one son, Yuri Borisovich Shcherbina. Yuri had a son, also named Boris, who then had a son of his own born 1989. He was also named Boris Borisovich Shcherbina and works as a fashion designer in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. Shcherbina was a

workaholic A workaholic is a person who works Compulsive behavior, compulsively. A workaholic experiences an inability to limit the amount of time they spend on work despite negative consequences such as damage to their relationships or health. There is no ...

during most of his life. In his free time, he liked to read scientific articles and books, and to also play

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

. Due to him suffering from

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

after developing

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

while in

Northern Russia The Russian North () is an ethnocultural region situated in the Northwest Russia, northwestern part of Russia. It spans the regions of Arkhangelsk Oblast (including Nenets Autonomous Okrug), Murmansk Oblast, the Republic of Karelia, Komi Republi ...

, Shcherbina never smoked or drank alcohol. According to his great-grandson, Shcherbina was described as having been a very calm and polite person who rarely got angry. Due to Chernobyl being state secret, he did not talk much about his time or role at Chernobyl to his family. He retired from politics in 1989. In 1990, he opposed the election of

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

to the chairmanship of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, describing him as "a man of low moral qualities", whose election would "pave the way for the darkest period in our country's history".

Honours and awards

In his position of Minister of Oil and Gas, he was awarded the honorific title of Hero of Socialist Labour in 1983 for major contributions to the development of the country's oil and gas industry, which was the highest award for achievements within the national economy. During his life, Shcherbina was also awarded four Orders of Lenin (1969, 1972, 1979 and 1983), the

Order of the October Revolution The Order of the October Revolution (, ''Orden Oktyabr'skoy Revolyutsii'') was instituted on 31 October 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was conferred upon individuals or groups for services furthering communis ...

(1971) and two Orders of the Red Banner of Labour (1957 and 1966).

Death and legacy

Shcherbina died in Moscow on 22 August 1990, aged 70. It is speculated that his death resulted from a radiation-induced cancer caused by his work at the Chernobyl disaster site. Officially, however, it is unknown whether his death was related to radiation, as a 1988 decree that he drafted prevented Soviet doctors from citing radiation as a cause of death or illness. Prior to his death, Shcherbina had suffered from several heart attacks. He was buried at

Novodevichy Cemetery Novodevichy Cemetery () is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist site. History The cemetery was designed by Ivan Mashkov and inaugurated ...

in Moscow with his wife. Shcherbina was posthumously made an honorary resident of birthplace of Debaltseve in 2009, and of

Gyumri Gyumri (, ) is an urban municipal community and the List of cities and towns in Armenia, second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th centur ...

in Armenia in 2003. In Tyumen, a boulevard was named in his honour in 2003, and on 10 November 2004, a bust of Shcherbina was erected in Nikolai Nemtsov Square in

Tyumen Tyumen ( ; rus, Тюмень, p=tʲʉˈmʲenʲ, a=Ru-Tyumen.ogg) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Tyumen Oblast, Russia. It is situated just east of the Ural Mountains, along the Tura ( ...

. In Gyumri, Armenia, a street was named after him in his honour and a monument of him was erected. There also exists plaques dedicated to him in Moscow and Tyumen. Shcherbina has been portrayed in multiple films and documentaries about Chernobyl. He has been portrayed by Vernon Dobtcheff in the BBC docudrama '' Surviving Disaster'' (2006), by

Stellan Skarsgård Stellan John Skarsgård (, ; born 13 June 1951) is a Swedish actor. He is known for his collaborations with director Lars von Trier, appearing in ''Breaking the Waves'' (1996), ''Dancer in the Dark'' (2000), '' Dogville'' (2003), ''Melancholia' ...

in the Sky/HBO miniseries ''

Chernobyl Chernobyl, officially called Chornobyl, is a partially abandoned city in Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. It is located within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, to the north of Kyiv and to the southwest of Gomel in neighbouring Belarus. ...

'' (2019), and by in the Russian Tv series ''Chernobyl'' (2022). The Soviet film ' depicts Shcherbina, as portrayed by , during the construction of the Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhhorod pipeline.

References