Georgy Shakhnazarov; Aide to Gorbachev During Soviet Collapse
Georgy Shakhnazarov, 77, a close aide to Mikhail Gorbachev before, during and after the tumult of the 1991 Soviet collapse, died near Moscow after giving a speech, the Russian news media reported Tuesday.
Born in 1924, Shakhnazarov fought with the Red Army against the Nazis in World War II in Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic states. He graduated from Azerbaijan State University and earned a doctorate in political science and philosophy. A member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Communist Party, he rose to political heights amid the reforms of the 1980s.
Named aide to then-Soviet leader Gorbachev in 1988, Shakhnazarov championed Gorbachev’s policies that ultimately contributed to the end of the Cold War and the USSR’s breakup.
Shakhnazarov was a lawmaker in the Soviet Congress of People’s Deputies from 1989 to 1992.
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