Lev Alekseyevich Voronin (; 22 February 1928 – 24 June 2008) was a Soviet and Russian official. He served as a First Deputy Chairman of the

Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

, literally the Vice-Premier of the Soviet Union, from 1989 to 1990. Responsible for the "general issues" of the cultural and economic administration of the Soviet Union during the late Gorbachev Era, Voronin became acting

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of the Council of Ministers in between

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 ...

's hospitalization and Valentin Pavlov's election as Prime Minister. Voronin worked as a banker following the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

Early life and career

Voronin was born on 22 February 1928 in the city of Perm,

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

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 ...

. He graduated as a

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...

from the Ural Polytechnic Institute in 1949. In 1953 Voronin became 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). Voronin, along with the six other Deputy Premiers, had a career background in the Soviet

military–industrial complex The expression military–industrial complex (MIC) describes the relationship between a country's military and the Arms industry, defense industry that supplies it, seen together as a vested interest which influences public policy. A driving fac ...

. He started working at an industrial plant in Sverdlovsk in 1949 as a common worker and eventually became the plant's manager. From 1959 to 1963 Voronin was a chief engineer in a plant located in the Kamensk-Ural Sverdlovsk region, and from 1963 he started to work as a chief engineer for a plant in the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

for the Sverdlovsk

Supreme Soviet of the National Economy Supreme Soviet of the National Economy, Superior Soviet of the People's Economy, (Высший совет народного хозяйства, ВСНХ, ''Vysshiy sovet narodnogo khozyaystva'', VSNKh) was the superior state institution for mana ...

. Later that year Voronin was appointed to the post of head of the radio and electronics industries. He became the Director of the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense Industry in 1965 under Premier

Alexei Kosygin Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin (–18 December 1980) was a Soviet people, Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as the Premier of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1980 and, alongside General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, was one of its most ...

and became the Director of the Production Planning Department of the Ministry of Defense Industry in 1969. He was Deputy Minister of Defense Industry from 1972 to 1979 and First Deputy Minister of Defense Industry from 1979 to 1980. From 1980 to 1982 Voronin was responsible for overseeing the military-industrial complex through his post in the State Planning Committee. In 1984, during his tenureship as Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Committee, he wrote to the

, then headed by

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, ...

, that the overcreation of jobs caused by

extensive growth Extensive growth, in economics, is growth in the quantity of output produced based on the expansion of the quantity of inputs used. It contrasts with intensive growth, which arises from inputs being used more productively. For example, GDP growth ...

was harming labor productivity. From 1980 to 1989 Voronin was a Deputy of the

Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (SSUSSR) was the highest body of state authority of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. Based on the principle of unified power, it was the only branch of government in the So ...

, and from 1981 to 1991 he was a member of the CPSU Central Committee.

Political career

Voronov was one of several appointees of

during his Central Committee Secretaryship to the Soviet leadership. As First Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Committee in February 1983 Voronov proposed giving enterprises more autonomy from the

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...

. This policy was later enacted, and Voronov became the chairman of a

commission which oversaw its implementation in certain sectors of the economy. Voronin was one of two First Deputy Chairmen of the State Planning Committee under the chairmanship of Nikolai Baibakov. The other First Deputy Chairman, Yuri Maslyukov, became the Chairman of the State Planning Committee when Baibakov resigned on 14 October 1985. As First Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Committee Voronin oversaw planning of the civilian sectors of the economy. Both Voronin and Maslyukov were allies of

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

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 Ryzhkov, the

of the Council of Ministers. From 15 November 1985 to 7 June 1989 Voronin was simultaneously a Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and the Chairman of the State Committee for Material and Technical Supply. As First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers Voronin was a member of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers, and he was officially responsible for "general issues" of the economy. When the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted Moldovan as their only official language, and Russian as a secondary one, several strikes began in

Transnistria Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and locally as Pridnestrovie, is a Landlocked country, landlocked Transnistria conflict#International recognition of Transnistria, breakaway state internationally recogn ...

in 1989. Gorbachev sent Voronin to discuss the situation with the strikers and their leaders. When Ryzhkov suffered a heart attack in late December 1991, Voronin was acting Premier of the Soviet Union, until Ryzhkov was succeeded in office by Valentin Pavlov on 14 January 1991. From March to September 1991 Voronin was the Permanent Representative of the USSR to the European Community.

Later life and death

Voronin worked from 1992 or 1996, until his death as a Vice President of Montazhspetsbank, a Russian

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make a profit. It can also refer to a bank or a division of a larger bank that deals with whol ...

. Voronin died on 24 June 2008 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 ...

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. He is buried at the Troekurovsky cemetery.

Decorations and awards

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 ...

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

Order of the Badge of Honour The Order of the Badge of Honour () was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding achievements in sports, production, scientific research and socia ...

Lenin Prize The Lenin Prize (, ) was one of the most prestigious awards of the Soviet Union for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was originally created on June 23, 1925, and awarded until 1934. During ...

* Certificate of Honour of the Government of the Russian Federation

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Voronin, Lev 1928 births 2008 deaths Politicians from Perm, Russia Deputy heads of government of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Soviet Union) Eleventh convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Tenth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Lenin Prize Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Russian mechanical engineers Soviet mechanical engineers Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery Businesspeople from Perm, Russia