Viktor Chernomyrdin: Russia’s Gas Industry Pioneer
Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (9 April 1938 – 3 November 2010) was a Soviet and Russian politician and businessman. He served as the second-longest-serving Prime Minister of Russia from 1992 to 1998 and was a key figure in the country’s transition from a planned to a market economy.
Early Life and Education
Chernomyrdin was born in Chernyi Otrog, Orenburg Oblast, Russian SFSR, the son of a labourer and one of five children. He completed his schooling in 1957 and worked as a mechanic in an oil refinery in Orsk until 1962, with the exception of military service from 1957 to 1960. During his time at the refinery, he held various positions including machinist, operator, and chief of technical installations.
In 1962, he was admitted to Kuybyshev Industrial Institute, later renamed Samara Polytechnical Institute, and graduated in 1966. He completed further studies at the Department of Economics of the Union-wide Polytechnic Institute by correspondence in 1972.
Career and Achievements
Chernomyrdin joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1961. From 1967 to 1973, he served as an industrial administrator for the city party committee in Orsk, then worked as deputy chief engineer and director for a natural gas plant in Orenburg from 1973 to 1978. In 1978, he moved to Moscow to work for the Central Committee of the CPSU in the heavy industry sector until 1982.
In 1982, he was appointed deputy minister of the natural gas industries of the Soviet Union and from 1983 directed Glavtyumengazprom, an industry association for natural gas resource development in Tyumen Oblast. In 1985, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev appointed him minister of the natural gas industry, a position he held until 1989.
In August 1989, under Chernomyrdin’s leadership, the Ministry of Gas Industry was transformed into the State Gas Concern, Gazprom, the country’s first state-corporate enterprise. Chernomyrdin was elected its first chairman. When the Soviet Union dissolved in late 1991, Gazprom retained assets located in Russian territory and secured a monopoly in the gas sector.
In May 1992, President Boris Yeltsin appointed Chernomyrdin as deputy prime minister in charge of fuel and energy, serving under acting prime minister Yegor Gaidar. On 14 December 1992, Yeltsin nominated him as prime minister, and he was confirmed the same day by the Congress of People’s Deputies. He served as prime minister until his dismissal on 23 March 1998. Following the 1998 Russian financial crisis, Yeltsin reappointed him as prime minister, but the Duma twice refused to confirm him, and he withdrew his nomination.
Alongside U.S. vice president Al Gore, Chernomyrdin served as co-chair of the Gore–Chernomyrdin Commission, which met biannually to discuss U.S.–Russia cooperation. In September 1993, he and Gore announced plans for the two nations to build a new space station, which eventually became the International Space Station. In April 1995, he formed a political bloc called Our Home – Russia, which won 10% of the vote and 55 seats in the 1995 Russian legislative election. On 18 June 1995, negotiations between Chernomyrdin and terrorist leader Shamil Basayev led to a compromise that became a turning point in the First Chechen War, resulting in a halt to military actions and the beginning of negotiations.
When Boris Yeltsin underwent heart surgery on 6 November 1996, Chernomyrdin served as acting president for 23 hours.
Notable Events and Milestones
During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, Chernomyrdin served as a special envoy of Russia in Yugoslavia. In December 1999, he was elected a member of the State Duma. In May 2001, Vladimir Putin appointed him Ambassador of Russia to Ukraine, a position he held until June 2009. On 11 June 2009, President Dmitry Medvedev relieved him as ambassador and appointed him as presidential adviser and special presidential representative on economic cooperation with CIS member countries.
Chernomyrdin was known in Russia and Russian-speaking countries for his distinctive language style, which contained numerous malapropisms and syntactic errors. Many of his sayings became aphorisms in the Russian language, including the expressions “We wanted the best, but it turned out like always” and “The thing that never happens just happened again.”
Chernomyrdin died on 3 November 2010 after a long illness. He was buried beside his wife in Novodevichy Cemetery on 5 November, and his funeral was broadcast live on Russian federal TV channels.
Additional Resources
For more detailed information about Viktor Chernomyrdin’s life and career, readers are encouraged to consult Wikipedia and other biographical archives that document his significant role in Russian politics and the energy sector during the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods.
