Yadgar Sodiqovna Nasriddinova (, ; 26 December 1920 – 7 April 2006) was an Uzbek Soviet engineer, politician, and high ranking member 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 ...

. After serving in a variety of posts in 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 ...

, she rose through the ranks of the

Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (, ), also known as Soviet Uzbekistan, the Uzbek SSR, UzSSR, or simply Uzbekistan and rarely Uzbekia, was a Republics of the Soviet Union, union republic of the Soviet Union. It was governed by the Communist ...

and became a deputy in the Supreme Soviet from 1958 to 1974. Between 1959 and 1970, she was the Deputy Chair of the

Presidium of the Supreme Soviet The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet () was the standing body of the highest organ of state power, highest body of state authority in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).The Presidium of the Soviet Union is, in short, the legislativ ...

and subsequently the chair of the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet until 1974. She was purged from the Communist Party in 1988 after the death of

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, his death in 1982 as w ...

(1906–1982) and during the corruption investigations in the

Uzbek cotton scandal The Uzbek cotton scandal, also known simply as the cotton scandal (, ) or the Uzbek scandal (, ), was a widespread corruption scandal in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic beginning during the later years of the rule of Leonid Brezhnev and co ...

. She was rehabilitated and restored to party membership in 1991, when the allegations of bribery against her could not be substantiated. Nasriddinova was awarded the

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 ...

four times over the course of her career, as well as twice receiving the

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 ...

Early life

Yadgar Sadykovna Nasriddinova was born on 26 December 1920 in

Kokand Kokand ( ) is a city in Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan, at the southwestern edge of the Fergana Valley. Administratively, Kokand is a district-level city, that includes the urban-type settlement Muqimiy. The population of Kokand was ap ...

, of the

Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic The Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (TASSR; ; ), originally called the Turkestan Socialist Federative Republic, was an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, autonomous republic of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic ...

. Her father, who was a loader, died three months before her birth and her 13-year-old mother named her "Yadgar", a name common in Muslim countries given to male or female orphans. She and her mother were forced to move by Nasriddinova's grandfather, who took them to another village 50 kilometers away from their home. Nasriddinova's mother remarried, but her new step-father wanted nothing to do with the child. Four years after her birth the Turkestan Autonomous SSR was divided, with the area of her birth being within the newly-created

. At the age of six, her stepfather took Nasriddinova to the side of the road and abandoned her. She was taken in by sympathetic passersby and passed from family to family until she was 11. In 1931, when the first orphanage was built in Uzbekistan, she was placed in its care and sent to study in a vocational school. She furthered her education, graduating from the

Tashkent Institute of Railway Transport Engineers Tashkent State Transport University (TSTU) is a university in Uzbekistan. History Tashkent State Transport University was founded in 2020 and headquartered in Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and Li ...

in 1941.

Career

From October 1941, Nasriddinova was employed as an engineer on the

Tashkent Railway The Trans-Aral Railway, also known as the Tashkent Railway, is a railway built in 1906 to connect Kinel and Tashkent, both then within the Russian Empire. For much of the early 20th century, it was the only railway link between European Russia a ...

, simultaneously continuing her graduate studies at the Tashkent Institute. She worked as a foreman on the Katta-Kurgan Reservoir project and the following year she headed the crew which built the rail line between Tashkent and the Angrenugol Mine. Joining the communist party in 1942, she became the Secretary of the Central Committee of the

for Uzbek schools. Around this time, she became the second wife of (Sirodzh Nurutdinov), a war veteran and secretary of the regional party committee, who would later serve as chairman of the trade unions of Uzbekistan. Nuritdinov was a political rival of

Sharof Rashidov Sharof Rashidovich Rashidov (Uzbek Cyrillic: Шароф Рашидович Рашидов, ; ; – 31 October 1983) was the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan from 1959 until his death in 1983. During h ...

, based largely on an alliance over leadership positions between Uzbek elites from

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

and

Fergana Fergana ( uz-Latn-Cyrl, Fargʻona, Фарғона, ), () or Ferghana, also Farghana is a district-level city and the capital of Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan. Fergana is about 320 km east of Tashkent, about 75 km southwest of A ...

, which emerged when the capital of Uzbekistan was moved in 1930 from

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

, the regional center of Rashidov's heritage. In 1946, she was appointed as the First Secretary of the Komsomol for the Tashkent Regional Committee of Uzbekistan. Graduating in 1947, she continued to rise in the Komsomol and district party holding various posts. In 1952, she headed the Ministry of Industry of Uzbekistan. Three years later, she was selected as deputy chair of the Council of Ministers of the Uzbek SSR and then in 1959 became Chairman of the

Presidium A presidium or praesidium is a council of executive officers in some countries' political assemblies that collectively administers its business, either alongside an individual president or in place of one. The term is also sometimes used for the ...

of the

Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR The Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR (; ) was the supreme soviet (main legislative institution) of the Uzbek SSR from 1938 to 1991. The Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR was preceded by the All-Uzbek Congress of Soviets which operated from 1925 ...

, succeeding Sharof Rashidov. Simultaneously, in 1959, she was elected as the Deputy chair of the Presidium of the

. Tensions between Rashidov and Nasriddinova had continued and after the ethnic riots of 1969, Rashidov saw a way to banish his rival by blaming her supporters for fomenting violence and security lapses. In turn, her faction blamed Rashidov, but it was Nasriddinova, who would soon leave Uzbekistan. Moving to Moscow in 1970, she became the

Chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

of the

Soviet of Nationalities The Soviet of Nationalities; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; was the upper chamber of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, elected on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage in accordance with the principles of S ...

of the USSR. After Nasriddinova left Uzbekistan, Rashidov was able to widen his networks through the use of patronage, to co-opt rivals into loyal backers. He consolidated his power, by posting family and friends to high government positions and distributing resources. At the end of her term in 1974,

Nikolai Podgorny Nikolai Viktorovich Podgorny ( – 12 January 1983) was a Soviet statesman who served as the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the head of state of the Soviet Union, from 1965 to 1977. Podgorny was born to a Ukrainian working-c ...

, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, asked her if she wanted to retain the post. When she agreed to serve, he nominated her for consideration to the

Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, abbreviated as Politburo, was the de facto highest executive authority in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). While elected by and formally a ...

, but Rashidov, who was her political rival and at that time First Secretary of the Uzbek Communist Party, blocked the nomination, claiming that he had evidence she was involved in corruption. The central committee did not investigate at that time, but her appointment as the Deputy Minister for the USSR Building Materials Industry in 1974 and as the Chair of the Committee for Asian and African Affairs were clear signs of her decline in the favor of the party. In 1979, Nasriddinova retired, but did not return to Uzbekistan, as both of her children were living in Moscow and her husband had died in 1966. Over the course of her career, she had been awarded the

four times, the

twice, the

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 ...

, among others. Throughout her tenure in power she was one of the most vocal opponents of allowing the

Crimean Tatar people Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...

the right of return to Crimea, even bluntly stating in a meeting with Crimean Tatar civil rights activists that she opposed allowing their return to Crimea because of labor needs in the Uzbek SSR. In 1982 Brezhnev died and Rashidov died the following year, opening the door to new investigation of the corruption which had occurred during their leadership. In 1983,

Telman Gdlyan Telman Khorenovich Gdlyan ( ) is a Soviet and Russian public and statesman of Armenians, Armenian origin. He is best known for his work as part of the investigative group of the USSR Prosecutor General's Office (the "Gdlyan-Ivanov group"), which ...

and began investigating what would become known as the

. They discovered records indicating that had been convinced of Nasriddinova's involvement and that intervention by

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 ...

of the Central Committee had stopped her arrest in 1975. Nasriddinova first learned of the investigation when the newspaper ''

Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, r=Izvestiya, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in February 1917, ''Izvestia'', which covered foreign relations, was the organ of the Supreme Soviet of th ...

'' published an article in 1987. In the article, she was accused of having taken a bribe of ₽100,000 and routing gold to Swiss banks, while she was the Chair of the Uzbek Presidium. Investigative journalist, Arkady Sakhnin, alleged that Nasriddinova also paid for her son’s lavish wedding with state funds, which prompted a scolding from Brezhnev, but no further action against her. In 1988, the accusations Rashidov had made in 1977 resurfaced with formal charges and she was stripped of her party membership and pension. In December 1990, they were dropped citing insufficient evidence against Nasriddinova. In 1991, she was rehabilitated, restored to party membership, and paid the pension for the 2 1/2 years it had been suspended. Nasriddinova insisted she had never been involved, that witnesses had fabricated testimony against her, and demanded that ''Izvestia'' print her answer denying all the allegations in their article.

Death and legacy

Nasriddinova died in Moscow on 7 April 2006 and was buried in the

Kuntsevo Cemetery The Kuntsevo Cemetery () is a cemetery servicing Kuntsevo, Moscow. It is located on the bank of the Setun River, to the south of the Mozhaisk Highway (the continuation of the Kutuzovsky Prospekt). The local five-domed church was commissioned in 16 ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nasriddinova, Yadgar 1920 births 2006 deaths 20th-century Uzbekistani women politicians People from Kokand Communist Party of Uzbekistan politicians Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic people Presidium of the Supreme Soviet Chairmen of the Soviet of Nationalities Fifth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Sixth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Seventh convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Eighth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of the Badge of Honour Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the October Revolution Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Soviet women engineers Soviet women in politics Uzbekistani engineers Women government ministers of Uzbekistan Members of the Central Committee of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union First women presidents Women presidents in Asia Burials at Kuntsevo Cemetery Alumni of Tashkent State Transport University