Valentin Sergeevič Pavlov

The last Soviet prime minister, Valentin Pavlov, was a compromise candidate for this post when President Mihail Gorbačëv supported his candidature in January 1991. A professional financier, Pavlov for years occupied various positions in the finance ministry of the Russian SFSR and the USSR. In 1962 he joined the Communist Party, but never was elected to the party top organs in this period. In 1979 he changed his job and headed the Finance Department in the State Planning Committee (Gosplan). By 1981 he was enlisted among the members of the Gosplan executive board. From January to August 1986, Pavlov briefly held the office of the first deputy finance minister in the government of Nikolaj Ryzhkov, but then he was transferred to the State Committee for Prices, where he occupied the office of chairman (15 Aug 1986 - 7 Jun 1989). With approval of the party leadership, Pavlov started implementation of the price reform, but it practically failed as the Soviet economy lost stability and inflation affected the reform course. In 1989 Valentin Pavlov was appointed the USSR finance minister (17 Jul 1989 - 14 Jan 1991). He was also elected a member of the party Central Committee in July 1990.

With the Communist Party losing its grip on state power, Gorbačëv picked up Pavlov to promote economic reform and to placate those demanding departization. The Supreme Soviet approved him as prime minister on 14 Jan 1991. One of the first actions of the new government was a tricky replacement of old banknotes that virtually drained the savings of millions of Soviet people. It was followed by other unpopular economic measures, but soon Pavlov realized that political and economic crisis made further reforms impossible. On 19 Aug 1991, he joined the State Committee for the State of Emergency in attempt to seize the power in Moscow. After the coup failed, Pavlov was dismissed as prime minister (22 Aug 1991) and was arrested (29 Aug 1991). After 16 months of imprisonment, Pavlov was amnestied in May 1994. Biography source: [3]