Nikolay Yemelyanovich Aksyonenko (; 15 March 1949 – 20 July 2005) was a Russian railway manager and politician.

Biography

Early life

Nikolay Aksyonenko was born on 15 March 1949 in the village of Novoaleksandrovka,

Bolotninsky District Bolotninsky District () is an administrative and municipalLaw #200-OZ district (raion), one of the thirty in Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia. It is located in the northeast of the oblast. The area of the district is . Its administrative center is the to ...

Novosibirsk Oblast Novosibirsk Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in southwestern Siberia. Its administrative center, administrative and economic center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of N ...

.Aksyonenko Nikolay Yemelyanovich
, ''panorama.ru'' He was the youngest, 13th child in a large family of an assistant driver. In his youth, he was engaged in heavyweight boxing and football. After leaving school in 1966, he tried to enter the Novosibirsk Electrotechnical Institute, but he failed to pass the tests. In 1967 he entered the Novosibirsk Institute of Railway Engineers.

Railway worker

In 1972 he was appointed as a duty officer at the Vikhorevka and

Nizhneudinsk Nizhneudinsk ( rus, Нижнеу́динск, p=nʲɪʐnʲɪˈudʲɪnsk; , ''Doodo-Üde'') is a town and the administrative center of Nizhneudinsky District of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Uda River ( Yenisei's basin), northwest of ...

stations. In 1974 he was appointed head of the Azey station of the East Siberian Railway. From 1978 to 1979 — deputy head of the Otrozhka station of the South Eastern railway. Since 1979 he worked as deputy chief, then head of the traffic department of the Voronezh branch of the South Eastern railway. In 1984 he was transferred to the

October Railway Oktyabrskaya Railway or October Railway () is the subsidiary of RZD, servicing railway lines in the north-west of Russia. It stretches from Moscow's Leningrad Terminal in the south to Murmansk beyond the Arctic Circle in the north. The total leng ...

, where he held the positions of deputy head of the

Murmansk Murmansk () is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast in the far Far North (Russia), northwest part of Russia. It is the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle and sits on both slopes and banks of a modest fjord, Ko ...

branch (until 1985), Head of the Leningrad-Finland branch (until 1986), chief economist, first deputy head of the October Railway.

Federal government

In 1994-1996, he held the post of deputy minister, since 1996 — first deputy minister, since 15 April 1997 — Minister of Railways of Russia. During his work, the

Kizlyar Kizlyar (; ; , ''Qızlar'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located on the border with the Chechen Republic in the river delta, delta of the Terek River northwest of Makhachkala, the cap ...

—

Kizilyurt Kizilyurt (; ; , ''Qızıl-yurt'') is a town in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, about northwest of Makhachkala. Population: It is located where the north-flowing Sulak River leaves the mountains and enters the Terek-Sulak Lowland. Etymology ...

railway was completed, telecommunication company TransTelekom was founded, a transit connection was established through the territory of Russia. At the same time, several dead-end railway branches were disbanded in

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...

Rumored successor of Yeltsin

On 19 May 1999 Aksyonenko was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the Government within the

Sergei Stepashin's Cabinet Sergei Stepashin's Cabinet was the Cabinet of Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin from May to August 1999. The Cabinet served under the presidency of Boris Yeltsin. Upon his appointment as Prime Minister (by a Duma vote of 301 to 55), Stepash ...

. Previously he was considered by

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 ...

as a candidate for prime minister. On 16 September 1999, Aksyonenko was re-appointed Minister of Railways in the

Vladimir Putin's First Cabinet This article contains information about the First Cabinet of Vladimir Putin, in effect from 16 August 1999 to 7 May 2000.New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. On 10 January 2000, Aksyonenko left the post of deputy premier, remaining minister of railways.

Last years

In October 2001, Aksyonenko was summoned to the Prosecutor General's Office, where he was charged with abuse of office and misuse of profits. According to the

auditors An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon." Auditing al ...

, the Railway Ministry top officials diverted money from the investment program in order to buy private apartments. On October 31, representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office reported that the federal budget lost more than 11 billion rubles as a result of Aksyonenko's actions. On 3 January 2002, prime minister

Mikhail Kasyanov Mikhail Mikhailovich Kasyanov ( rus, Михаи́л Миха́йлович Касья́нов, , mʲɪxɐˈil mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ kɐˈsʲjanəf, links=no; born 8 December 1957) is a Russian politician who served as Prime Minister of Russia fr ...

proposed president Putin to dismiss Aksyonenko. On the same day, the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

signed a corresponding

decree A decree is a law, legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state, judge, monarch, royal figure, or other relevant Authority, authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislativ ...

, and Aksyonenko, in turn, submitted a letter of resignation. In October 2003, he left Russia for treatment in one of the foreign clinics (Aksyonenko suffered from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

). Nikolai Aksyonenko died on 20 July 2005 at the

Klinikum Großhadern The LMU Klinikum (until 2020 ''Klinikum der Universität München'') is the merged hospital complex of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), including the ''Campus Innenstadt'' in the city center and the '' Campus Großhadern'' in Hade ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. He was buried at

Nikolskoe Cemetery Nikolskoe Cemetery () is a historic cemetery in the centre of Saint Petersburg. It is part of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and is one of four cemeteries in the complex. The third cemetery to be established in the monastery complex, the Nikolskoe ...

of the

Alexander Nevsky Lavra Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra or Saint Alexander Nevsky Monastery was founded by Peter I of Russia in 1710 at the eastern end of the Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg, in the belief that this was the site of the Neva Battle in 1240 when Alexa ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Honours

* Aksyonenko Square in Moshkovo, Novosibirsk Oblast * ''Nikolay Aksyonenko'', car-passenger ferry of the

Kerch Strait ferry line The Kerch Strait ferry line (, ) was a ferry connection across the Strait of Kerch that connected the Crimean Peninsula and Krasnodar Krai. The ferry ran across the narrowest part of the strait (about ) between Port Krym (harbour Crimea) by the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aksyonenko, Nikolay 1949 births 2005 deaths People from Novosibirsk Oblast Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Deputy heads of government of the Russian Federation Government ministers of Russia 20th-century Russian politicians Russian people in rail transport Siberian State Transport University alumni Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Burials at Nikolskoe Cemetery