Nikolai Kruchina
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Nikolay Yefimovich Kruchina (; 14 May 192826 August 1991), was a top
Soviet 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 ...
communist official, the administrator of affairs of the Central Committee 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 1983 and until his death, effectively the party's chief treasurer, responsible for its enormous assets (popularly dubbed as ''the party's gold'', ) estimated to be worth nearly $9 billion, which have never been located since.


Career

Born in Siberian Krai (now
Altai Krai Altai Krai (, ) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai). It borders, clockwise from the west, Kazakhstan ( East Kazakhstan Region, Abai Region and Pavlodar Region), Novosibirsk and Kemerovo, and the Altai Republic. The krai's administrative ce ...
), Kruchina joined the party in 1949. In 1962 he became an instructor for the Agricultural Department of the CPSU. In 1963-1965 he was a secretary of the Tselinny Krai Committee of the Communist Party in the
Kazakh SSR The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Kazakhstan, the Kazakh SSR, KSSR, or simply Kazakhstan, was one of the transcontinental constituent republics of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. Located in northern Centr ...
, in 1965-1978—the First Secretary of the
Tselinograd Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. With a population of 1,423,726 within the city limits, it is the second-largest in the country after Almaty, which had been the capital until 1997. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim ...
Oblast Committee of the Communist Party in the Kazakh SSR. In 1973 he was awarded
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 ...
. In 1971 Kruchina entered the Central Auditing Committee of the CPSU. In 1971 he became a candidate member and in 1976 a full member of the CPSU Central Committee. In 1978-1983 served as a first deputy chairman of the Agricultural Department of the CPSU then headed by
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 ...
, became its chairman after Gorbachev in 1983 and in the same year, after
Yuri Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov ( – 9 February 1984) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from late 1982 until his death in 1984. He previously served as the List of Chairmen of t ...
's assumption of power, finally replaced Georgy Pavlov as the party's administrator of affairs (''upravlyayushchiy delami''). It is known that Kruchina's office transferred millions of dollars as a Soviet help to foreign Communist Parties. For the last time Kruchina visited his office on August 19, the day the abortive
Soviet coup attempt of 1991 The 1991 Soviet coup attempt, also known as the August Coup, was a failed attempt by hardliners of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) to forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was Soviet President and ...
started. In 1966-1989 he was also a Deputy in 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 in 1989-1991 People's Deputy of the Soviet Union.


Death

Kruchina died as a result of falling out of the window of his apartment 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 ...
in the early morning of August 26, five days after the coup attempt. He allegedly left two suicide notes, in which he claimed that he was not a plotter, despite having never been publicly linked to the attempted coup. He apparently left near his desk on the armchair a thick file of recent Communist Party's illegal commercial operations. This was not the only alleged suicide among the Soviet leadership at that time. Soviet Interior Minister
Boris Pugo Boris Karlovich Pugo (, ; 19 February 1937 – 22 August 1991) was a Soviet communist politician of Latvian origin. Early life and education Pugo was born in Kalinin, Russian SFSR (now Tver, Russia) into a family of Latvian communists. They had ...
, one of the plotters, allegedly shot his wife and himself in their apartment on August 22, while Marshal
Sergey Akhromeyev Sergey Fyodorovich Akhromeyev (; May 5, 1923 – August 24, 1991) was a Soviet military figure, Hero of the Soviet Union (1982) and Marshal of the Soviet Union (1983). When he was the first deputy chief of staff of the Soviet Army, he formulated ...
, Adviser to the
President of the Soviet Union The president of the Soviet Union (), officially the president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (), abbreviated as president of the USSR (), was the executive head of state of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 15 March ...
on military affairs, allegedly hanged himself in his office on August 24. On October 6, Kruchina's predecessor, Georgy Pavlov, fell to his death. On October 17, Dmitry Lisovolik, former deputy chief of the party's international department, was also found dead in the same manner several weeks after investigators found $600,000 in the office of his boss,
Valentin Falin Valentin Mikhailovich Falin (; 3 April 1926 – 22 February 2018) was a Soviet diplomat and politician. Early life Falin was born in Leningrad. He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1950. Career From 1951 t ...
.Tifft, Susan
Desperately Seeking Rubles
''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'', November 4, 1991.
Kruchina was laid to rest at the
Troyekurovskoye Cemetery The Troyekurovo Cemetery (), alternatively known as ''Novo-Kuntsevo Cemetery'' (), is a cemetery in Moscow, Russia. The cemetery is located in the former village of Troyekurovo on the western edge of Moscow, which derives its name from the Troye ...
.


References


Further reading

* Бунич, Игорь Львович. Золото Партии: Историческая хроника. – Санкт-Петербург: Шанс, 1992. P. 245–314.


External links

* (in Russian) * Черняев, А
1990 год. Из дневников
// НЛО 2007, No.84. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kruchina, Nikolay 1928 births 1991 deaths People from Altai Krai Members of the Central Auditing Commission of the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Candidates of the Central Committee of the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the 25th Congress of the Communist Party 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 Members of the Central Committee of the 28th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Seventh convocation members of the Soviet of the Union Eighth convocation members of the Soviet of the Union Ninth convocation members of the Soviet of the Union Tenth convocation members of the Soviet of the Union Eleventh convocation members of the Soviet of the Union Heroes of Socialist Labour Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Soviet politicians who died by suicide Suicides by jumping in Russia Suicides in the Soviet Union Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery