{{refimprove|date=November 2020}} {{short description|Russian politician (1923-2002)}} {{Expand Russian|topic=bio|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox Officeholder | name = Lev Zaykov | image = Lev Nikolaevich Zaikov.jpg | caption = Zaykov in 1977 | office = Military Industry Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union | term_start = 1985 | term_end = 1990 | predecessor = | successor = | office1 = First Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Party Committee | term_start1 = 1983 | term_end1 = 1985 | predecessor1 = Grigory Romanov | successor1 = Yuri Solovyov | birth_date = {{birth date|1923|4|3|df=y}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|2002|1|7|1923|4|3|df=y}} | death_place = Moscow, Russia | party = Communist Party of the Soviet Union | native_name_lang = ru | native_name = {{nobold|Лев Зайков}} }} '''Lev Nikolaevich Zaikov''' ({{langx|ru|Лев Никола́евич Зайко́в}}; 3 April 1923 – 7 January 2002) was a Soviet politician and statesman who served as a member of the Politburo (1986–1990) and Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (1985–1990). He was responsible for overseeing the Soviet military-industrial complex, a portfolio he inherited from Grigory Romanov.<ref name="fa">{{cite journal |last=Brown |first=Archie |title=Change in the Soviet Union |journal=Foreign Affairs |volume=64 |issue=5 |date=Summer 1986 |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/russia-fsu/1986-06-01/change-soviet-union |access-date=31 March 2026}}</ref> Before his elevation to the central party leadership, Zaikov had a career spanning Leningrad's defense industry, serving as a factory director, head of the city government, and First Secretary of the Leningrad Oblast party committee.<ref name="wapo-yeltsin">{{cite news |title=Gorbachev Ally Ousted as Moscow Party Chief |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=12 November 1987 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/11/12/gorbachev-ally-ousted-as-moscow-party-chief/73b1fbb8-dd77-4f45-83b4-3d4376fc91d7/ |access-date=31 March 2026}}</ref> From 1987 to 1989, Zaikov simultaneously served as First Secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee, replacing Boris Yeltsin after the latter's ouster.<ref name="wapo-yeltsin" /> As the Politburo member responsible for the military-industrial complex, Zaikov was one of a small number of senior Soviet officials who were fully aware of the Soviet Union's secret biological weapons programme, in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention.<ref name="bulletin-bioweapons">{{cite journal |last=Hoffman |first=David E. |title=The other Berlin Wall: How the Soviet bioweapons program was revealed |journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists |date=1 November 2009 |url=https://thebulletin.org/2009/11/the-other-berlin-wall-how-the-soviet-bioweapons-program-was-revealed/ |access-date=31 March 2026}}</ref> == Early life and industrial career == Zaikov was born on 3 April 1923 near Tula, into a working-class family.<ref name="warheroes">{{cite web |title=Зайков Лев Николаевич |url=https://warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=15243 |website=Герои страны |language=ru |access-date=31 March 2026}}</ref> His family subsequently moved to Moscow and then to Leningrad. In 1940, he began working as an apprentice die-maker at Factory No. 133 (an aviation industry plant) in Leningrad.<ref name="warheroes" /> During the Great Patriotic War, he worked twelve-hour shifts as a fitter and die-maker at defense enterprises. He attempted to volunteer for front-line service on three occasions but was returned to factory work each time due to his classification as an essential worker.<ref name="warheroes" /> After the war, Zaikov rose through the ranks of Leningrad's industrial enterprises, holding positions as group leader, foreman, senior foreman, deputy workshop chief, workshop chief, and production manager at factories in Moscow and Leningrad.<ref name="warheroes" /> In 1963, he graduated from the Leningrad Engineering-Economics Institute.<ref name="viperson">{{cite web |title=Зайков Лев Николаевич |url=http://birthday.viperson.ru/people/zaykov-lev-nikolaevich |website=VIPerson |language=ru |access-date=31 March 2026}}</ref> From 1961 to 1971, Zaikov served as director of the Leningrad State Plant "Novator," an enterprise of the Ministry of Radio Industry that produced complex radio-electronic systems and avionics for military and civilian aircraft, including the Su-24, Il-76, and An-22.<ref name="warheroes" /> For his work in fulfilling the five-year plan and organizing the production of new technology, he was awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labour by a secret decree on 26 April 1971.<ref name="warheroes" /> He subsequently served as general director of the Leningrad Production-Technical Association "Novator" (1971–1973) and then as general director of the scientific-production association Leninets (1974–1976), one of the major defense electronics enterprises in the Soviet Union.<ref name="viperson" /> == Chairman of the Leningrad City Executive Committee == In 1976, Zaikov was appointed chairman of the Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Soviet, effectively serving as the city's chief executive. He held this post until 1983.<ref name="viperson" /> During this period, he oversaw significant urban development and infrastructure projects in Leningrad. == First Secretary of the Leningrad Oblast party (1983–1985) == In June 1983, Zaikov was appointed First Secretary of the Leningrad Oblast Committee of the CPSU, succeeding Grigory Romanov, who had been transferred to Moscow as a Secretary of the Central Committee.<ref name="wapo-romanov">{{cite news |title=Gorbachev Rival Loses Party Posts |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2 July 1985 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/07/02/gorbachev-rival-loses-party-posts/6c212126-7bd7-4a1d-8040-15595107646f/ |access-date=31 March 2026}}</ref> During his tenure, Zaikov introduced the "Intensification-90" programme, an economic acceleration plan aimed at promoting technological modernisation across the Leningrad region. The programme made a favourable impression on Mikhail Gorbachev during the latter's first visit to Leningrad as General Secretary in May 1985.<ref name="warheroes" /> == Central Committee Secretary and Politburo member == === Defense industry portfolio (1985–1990) === On 1 July 1985, Zaikov was transferred to Moscow and appointed a Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, assuming responsibility for the Soviet defense industry and military-industrial complex—the same portfolio previously held by Romanov.<ref name="fa" /><ref name="wapo-romanov" /> A 1986 article in ''Foreign Affairs'' noted that Zaikov's rise had been "meteoric," having moved from Leningrad to the Central Committee Secretariat only in July 1985 and then being elected a full member of the Politburo at the 27th Party Congress in March 1986.<ref name="fa" /> ''Air & Space Forces Magazine'' described him as the Politburo member "believed to be responsible for defense industry."<ref name="asf">{{cite magazine |title=The Politburo |magazine=Air & Space Forces Magazine |date=March 1988 |url=https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/0388politburo/ |access-date=31 March 2026}}</ref> In this capacity, Zaikov chaired the Politburo commission that oversaw the Soviet Union's secret biological weapons programme operated by Biopreparat. At a meeting in his Central Committee offices on 27 July 1989, Zaikov convened sixteen senior officials—including Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov, and Chief of the General Staff Mikhail Moiseyev—to discuss the risk of exposure posed by the forthcoming Chemical Weapons Convention and its mandatory on-site inspection provisions.<ref name="bulletin-katayev">{{cite journal |last=Hoffman |first=David E. |title=Bringing the Soviet military-industrial complex to life |journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists |date=3 September 2009 |url=https://thebulletin.org/2009/09/bringing-the-soviet-military-industrial-complex-to-life/ |access-date=31 March 2026}}</ref> In May 1990, following the defection of Vladimir Pasechnik, a senior Biopreparat scientist, and subsequent British and American diplomatic protests, Zaikov wrote to Gorbachev and Shevardnadze outlining details of the programme and assessing the damage Pasechnik's disclosures might cause.<ref name="bulletin-bioweapons" /> === First Secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee (1987–1989) === On 11 November 1987, following Boris Yeltsin's dramatic ouster from the Moscow party leadership, Zaikov was appointed First Secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee, a position he held concurrently with his Central Committee Secretaryship.<ref name="wapo-yeltsin" /> The ''Washington Post'' reported that Zaikov's appointment was "viewed by many western diplomats and some Soviets as the first concrete signal that the Kremlin leader's reform campaign is losing ground to opposition."<ref name="wapo-yeltsin" /> Zaikov held the Moscow post until June 1989.<ref name="viperson" /> == Later life and death == Zaikov was removed from the Politburo and the Secretariat in July 1990 and retired from active political life. From 1989 to 1990, he had also served as deputy chairman of the USSR Defence Council.<ref name="viperson" /> Until January 1992, he remained a member of the Group of General Inspectors of the Soviet Ministry of Defence.<ref name="viperson" /> In late 1997, Zaikov returned to Saint Petersburg, where he served as an adviser to the president of the Leninets Holding Company until his death. He died on 7 January 2002 in Saint Petersburg at the age of 78 and was buried at Serafimovskoe Cemetery.<ref name="warheroes" /> == Awards and honours == * Hero of Socialist Labour (1971)<ref name="warheroes" /> * Three Orders of Lenin<ref name="warheroes" /> * USSR State Prize (1975)<ref name="warheroes" /> == References == {{reflist}} {{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{succession box | before = Grigory Romanov | title = First Secretary of the Leningrad Oblast Party Committee | years = 1983–1985 | after = Yuri Solovyov }} {{succession box | before = Boris Yeltsin | title = First Secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee | years = 1987–1989 | after = Yuri Prokofyev }} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Zaikov, Lev Nikolaevich}} Category:1923 births Category:2002 deaths Category:People from Tula, Russia Category:Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Category:Heroes of Socialist Labour Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin Category:Recipients of the USSR State Prize Category:Soviet diplomats Category:Burials at Serafimovskoe Cemetery Category:Members of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union