Ivan Stepanovich Silayev

Graduated as civil engineer; worked for the Ordzhonikidze aircraft plant in Gorky (1954-1974); joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1959; plant director (1971); deputy minister of aircraft industry of the USSR (1974-1980); briefly served as minister for industrial equipment production of the USSR (19 Dec 1980 - 20 Feb 1981); minister of aircraft industry (20 Feb 1981 - 1 Nov 1985); elected full member of the CPSU Central Committee (3 Mar 1981 - 26 Jul 1991); deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers (1 Nov 1985 - 2 Jul 1990) in the cabinet of Nikolay Ryzhkov; became one of Boris El'cin's closest associates, who nominated him a candidate to the post of chairman of RSFSR Council of Ministers (Bocharov, Silayev and Ryzhov); approved by the RSFSR Supreme Council (15 Jun 1990); confirmed in office by the RSFSR Congress of People's Deputies (18 Jun 1990); contributed to increasing the importance of Russian government when Russia declared its sovereignty (12 Jun 1991); nominated again (12 Jul 1991) by the newly inaugurated President El'cin; confirmed in office by the RSFSR Supreme Soviet (12 Jul 1991) and RSFSR Congress of People's Deputies (13 Jul 1991); resigned from the CPSU Central Committee (26 Jul 1991); supported preservation of the Soviet Union as a federal state; accepted nomination as Chief of the USSR Committee on Operative Management of the People's Economy (24 Aug 1991) after the August coup; insisted on shifting back to the Union some of the control acquired by Russia; was appointed (20 Sep 1991) Chairman of the Interrepublican Economic Committee of the USSR (from 14 Nov 1991 Interstate Economic Committee), which replaced the USSR Cabinet of Ministers; resigned as head of the RSFSR government (resignation accepted 26 Sep 1991); resident representative of the Russian Federation to European organizations in Brussels (from 26 Dec 1991); chairman, Russian Association of Industrial Equipment Suppliers (from 26 Sep 2002). Biography source: [7]