Servant of the People in Kyiv

The Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse, and Haniyev really had no chance of surviving.

After leaving Chekhov's office, Haniyev went to several offices of the Forestry Commission. He first met with Kartov, and then met the director, deputy secretary and other three leaders. He attended a small welcome party. Kartov then arranged a dormitory for Haniyev. That night, he took the entire leadership team of the Forestry Commission to Black Forest Village and held a banquet at the home of his lover Sasha. The meal cost the committee more than 2,800 rubles.

Political and economic corruption is a Soviet tradition that began in the Stalin era and reached its peak during the reign of Emperor Taizong.

Even though Gotu started reforms last year, the results have been poor so far. Instead, the ban on alcohol has led to the closure of state-owned wineries, and the number of privately-owned and imported smuggled wines on the black market has increased.

Haniyev stayed in Chernobyl for two days and experienced the corruption of leading cadres of the local party committee and government for two days. Although he enjoyed it very much, considering that it was already late March and there was only one month left before the Chernobyl explosion, he could not enjoy it and had to do his best to prepare in advance.

The more than 1,400 employees of the forest farm are the people that Haniyev must save first, and the more than 200 militia companies in the forest farm are also the core force for him to do something in the chaos, so Haniyev knows very well that he has to return to the forest farm and use the forest farm to do all the work that needs to be done.

Rubbing his temples, Haniyev felt that the hangover headache had not yet dissipated. After walking into Kartov's office, he watched him cross his legs with a smug look on his face as he gave instructions on the work related to the three collective forest farms.

"What? The alcohol hasn't worn off yet?"

Putting down the pen, Kartov glanced at Haniyev and said with a smile.

Haniyev snorted coldly, "You've been forcing me to drink quite a bit these past couple of days. I need to go back to the forest farm to rest for a few days. When I'm done, I'll shoot some pheasants and call you. You can come to the forest farm and we can have some more drinks."

Kartov smiled and nodded, saying, "Can't bear to leave your forest farm? Haha, I've already approved your application to recommend Grigory as the next director. The regional committee will be able to officially appoint him next month at the latest. Once Grigory is firmly in the position, it won't matter whether you go or not, or whether you work part-time or not."

Haniyev smiled and said, "That's all for later. I'm going to do something big this time when I return. Please approve a hundred thousand rubles for me. I'll use it first and then pay you back later."

"Hiss, one hundred thousand?"

Kartov was stunned for a moment, then grinned and said, "What do you need so much money for?"

Haniyev squinted out the window, seemingly able to see the Ferris wheel of the Pripyat amusement park to the northwest. He whispered, "Of course, to do great things and become a high-ranking official!"

Kartov saw that Haniyev was serious. He drummed his fingers on the table and fell into deep thought. After a long moment, he slapped the table and looked up. "I don't care what you're planning to do. I'm going to give you the funds for the next two quarters. You have to figure out how to use them. If you cause chaos at the forest farm, or if you can't pay your employees next quarter and they sue you, I won't clean up your mess!"

Haniyev opened his eyes slightly and smiled, "Don't worry, you'll be thanking me before next quarter, and by then you won't even want the money I give you."

Haniyev spoke with certainty, but Kartov was greatly surprised. However, he knew that Haniyev always thought long-term in doing things. At most, he had violated the rules, and if something went wrong, he would at most receive some criticism, or even worse, a low score in the cadre assessment. However, Haniyev's networking ability was not bad. He was a favorite of Chekhov, and whatever he wanted to do would most likely benefit him. The relationship between the two was also very good.

Therefore, both for public and private reasons, Kartov was willing to take a gamble with Haniyev.

Chapter 038: Selfless Forestry Model

After returning to the Gaopodi Forest Farm, Haniyev first announced on behalf of the Regional Forestry Committee the decision to appoint Grigory as acting director, and then began his busy work as the second secretary of the Regional Forestry Committee and secretary of the forest farm.

The work at a forest farm is actually very simple. The main tasks are logging and planting trees. However, because the state-owned forest farm has 1,500 employees, it also needs to deal with conflicts and disputes among more than 1000 employees and more than 400 families, as well as many matters such as building houses, weddings and funerals.

Since Grigory was promoted by Haniyev to be the acting director of the factory, many tasks did not require Haniyev to make specific arrangements. He only needed to give instructions to Grigory, and any work could be carried out smoothly. What Haniyev actually did was to go down and inspect. In addition, he emphasized the importance of production and protecting the lives and property of employees.

Therefore, in essence, although Haniyev seems to be busy at the forest farm, his main work every day is actually to call relatives and friends in Kiev. After all, he does not have to pay for the phone bills out of his own pocket. He also calls the Lower Dnieper Military Factory, which produces lead vests, to request an increase in the order quantity, and instructs the accountant to transfer 20,000 rubles from the forest farm account as the balance payment for the first two batches of goods.

At the same time, they were asked to deliver the two batches of lead armor masks that had already been produced to the forest farm.

The 10 rubles that Haniyev received from Kartov were intended to be used to purchase lead vests and gas masks.

After the accident, these lead suits and asbestos gas masks will be the best radiation protection tools. The second group of rescue workers who entered the nuclear power plant in history wore this kind of clothing.

Haniyev is now going to spend any amount of money to purchase and stockpile lead vests in large quantities so that he can provide them to most people who need to go out after an accident.

A complete set of standard radiation protection suits costs eighty rubles. Even if Haniyev spent 100,000 rubles, he could only buy more than 1,000 pieces. However, he needed at least tens of thousands of pieces, so he used all the 100,000 rubles as a deposit and ordered 20,000 pieces.

As the secretary of the forest farm and the second secretary of the Forestry Committee, Haniyev asked Kartov to sign and seal the purchase order, the purpose of which was to purchase radiation-proof clothing for the forest farm workers near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Kartov couldn't understand why Haniyev decided to waste so much money, but since Haniyev didn't say anything, Kartov could only figure it out on his own.

Secretary Sherbitsky was very angry because of a Reuters report about the US nuclear power plant accident and some Chernobyl leaders. In order to avoid being punished, Chekovyev also wanted to take action against the Pripyat city team.

At this critical juncture, Haniyev wanted to embezzle a large amount of public funds to purchase anti-radiation clothing. Kartov naturally couldn't believe that an accident would happen at the nuclear power plant. He thought that Haniyev must have guessed his superiors' intentions and knew that Chekonenv wanted to show Sherbitsky that he attached great importance to the safety of the nuclear power plant, so he purchased a large number of anti-radiation clothing as safety reserve equipment.

Kartov knew that Haniyev was Chekhov's confidant, and since he was willing to take the risk, it would probably be effective. So he stopped worrying.

After solving the problem of anti-radiation clothing, Haniyev set his sights on the fire brigade in the forest of the state-owned forest farm. Although the fire brigade had only more than 160 firefighters, they were very well equipped with more than 30 armored vehicles, five helicopters, more than ten heavy artillery pieces and other weapons.

After the first batch of anti-radiation suits arrived at the forest farm, Haniyev asked Grigory to tell the captain and instructor of the fire brigade that he was going to give each of them a set of anti-radiation suits.

Haniyev knew very well that as one of the fire brigades closest to Chernobyl, they would definitely be dispatched to the nuclear power plant to put out the fire after the accident. However, no one knew about nuclear radiation at the time, so they naturally would not wear anti-radiation clothing, and even if they wanted to wear it, they didn't have it.

The purpose of Haniyev's donation of anti-radiation clothing was to help more than 160 people from the Gaopodi Fire Brigade save their lives while fighting the nuclear power plant accident fire.

However, no one except Haniyev knew the real purpose. After learning about it, Kartov immediately arranged for the office to follow up and take photos, and prepared to report it in the region to show that the forestry department responded to the spirit of the speech of Comrade Chekhov, the first secretary of the region, strictly ensured safety in production near the nuclear power plant, and made due efforts and selfless contributions to radiation protection.

The fire brigade was very happy after receiving the news. Then, in the early morning of April 2, Kartov and Haniyev brought the entire team of the Forestry Committee, the leadership team of Gaopodi, and a truck full of anti-radiation suits to the fire brigade next to the forest farm.

The captain and instructor of the fire brigade were already at the door with firefighters and armed police lined up to welcome them.

After the meeting, the leaders first shook hands and exchanged greetings, while the office clerks took photos from multiple angles, and then took photos according to the gift-giving process. Afterwards, Liu Haniyev, Kartov and others from the fire brigade had a simple lunch in the brigade cafeteria.

Although the fire brigade is under the management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the administrative level of the brigade captain and instructor is one level lower than that of Haniyev, and can only be considered to be on the same level as Grigory now, so the brigade captain Zhirinovsky and instructor Zhukov are very respectful and polite to Kartov and Haniyev.

That evening, Zhukov personally drove to the forest farm to pick up Haniyev and Kartov to go drinking again. Because there were many people at noon, it was not easy for everyone to openly defy the General Secretary's ban on alcohol, so they could only have another drink in the evening.

This was something that had been agreed upon during lunch, so Haniyev and Kartov went there with four or five trusted deputies, including Grigory.

After the banquet, everyone became very good friends. Zhirinovsky patted his chest and assured Kartov and Haniyev that as long as the two secretaries had any request, he could unconditionally carry out it on behalf of the fire brigade.

Haniyev knew very well that Zhirinovsky was talking drunkenly, but if he really needed them and the fire brigade without violating the principles, there was a 99% probability that neither Zhirinovsky nor Zhukov would refuse.

In early April, Rihanyev was busy donating anti-radiation clothing and helmets to the regional fire brigade to build relationships. Whenever he had some free time, he would eat and drink with Novsky and Zhukov.

At this time, the news that Haniyev and Kartov, as the most profitable business department in Chernobyl, used most of their forestry revenue quota to purchase radiation protection equipment as gifts to the fire brigade was widely reported by regional radio and television stations.

Chekhov made a special trip to call Haniyev and Kartov to praise them for their planning and care for the Party Committee, and called them two outstanding young cadres.

Haniyev Kokartov's high-profile act of donating anti-radiation clothing became news and was even reported in Kyiv newspapers in mid-April. This also shows that the Chernobyl region attaches great importance to the safe production of nuclear power plants, as well as the good political atmosphere of clean and upright conduct and mutual help.

Cheković was naturally very satisfied when he learned about this. He also readjusted the leadership team of Pripyat and severely dealt with a group of cadres including Deputy Secretary Sergei Shimansky, which showed his attitude and gave an answer to Ukraine's First Secretary Sherbitsky.

Chapter 039: National News

At a telephone conference of Ukrainian ministers and governors on April 18, Secretary Shcherbitsky spoke highly of the Chernobyl region's swift and rapid response and ordered the Minister of Personnel Management to suspend interviews and investigations with the Chernobyl region's Party Committee and Regional Committee.

At this time, the tens of thousands of gas masks and radiation-proof clothing ordered by Haniyev have been shipped out of the factory one after another, and more than 5,000 pieces have been continuously sent to the Gaopodi State Forest Farm for storage.

However, in the past two weeks, Haniyev also donated about 1000 sets of radiation-proof lead clothing and asbestos gas masks to all fire brigades in the Chernobyl area and the internal affairs departments of Pripyat and Chernobyl.

Thanks to their lavish gifts, Haniyev and Kartov became the few cadres in the bureaucracy of the old, corrupt and heavy empire who could respond quickly and provide news materials that highly valued the safety of nuclear power plants.

These days, the official media is no longer silent. Foreign media such as AFP, Reuters, and AP have been constantly biting the stain of Pripyat Deputy Secretary Sergei Shimansky and attacking the Soviet Union's shortcomings in ensuring the safety and cleanliness of nuclear applications, constantly questioning the Soviet Union's political system.

Both RIA Novosti and TASS began to report extensively on the speeches of Soviet leaders Gordo and Shcherbitsky and the plan for dealing with the Chernobyl area.

Among the long content about the main leadership, the news that Chekov severely dealt with the leadership team of Pripyat and carried out large-scale rectification and training was only reported once on April 15. In the report of the same day, there was also a short paragraph mentioning Kartov and Haniyev.

The leaders of the two departments with the best business performance in the Chernobyl area set aside funds to purchase radiation-proof clothing and donated it to the fire brigades in the area, which showed that they understood and comprehended the spirit of the speeches of the leaders of the Party and the country, and began to put it into practice.

Although Haniyev and Kartov only appeared on camera for a short time during the "battle" between the Soviet official media and foreign news agencies, there was no shortage of reports on all aspects of the two people in Ukraine and the Kyiv Oblast.

In particular, on April 14, the Ukrainian National News Agency used two pages to report on the special report on the maintenance management and safe production of nuclear power plants in the Chernobyl region. One of the news releases was titled "Forests are the best protection for the people." The news release focused on the donation of radiation protection suits by Haniyev, Kartov and the forestry department of Chernobyl.

It can be said that this report finally made Haniyev and Kartov famous. They were not only big stars in the forestry system, but also became the number one political celebrities in the Chernobyl area. They even had a certain fame in the Kyiv Oblast and even in the Republic of Ukraine.

Sometimes being famous is a good thing, but sometimes a big tree attracts the wind, and it is also common sense that a famous person will be hated.

For a country like the Soviet Union, being famous may not necessarily be a good thing if it does not have strong capabilities and deep connections.

Haniyev and Kartov understood this principle very well.

However, Kartov is now almost 50 years old. If nothing unexpected happens, before retirement, he can only become the deputy director or deputy secretary of the regional standing committee at most, and that will be the end of his career.

But now he finally has the opportunity to make progress, perhaps inspired by Haniyev, Kartov also wants to give it one more try before retirement. He feels that if he can become the top leader of the region before the age of 60, he will be satisfied with his retirement, so naturally he wants to take a gamble.

Haniyev's thoughts were different from Kartov's. Although Haniyev also wanted to be promoted and given a position, to get a promotion and make money, he was eager to give away anti-radiation clothing in order to deal with the accident on April 26.

The accident may still be unknown at present and may not happen again, but if it happens, it will definitely affect the Soviet Union and shock the world as in the previous life.

Although Haniyev wanted to use this accident to climb higher, his current selfless contribution was also to save lives after the accident and ensure that the damage and impact could be reduced to a certain extent. He did not intend to donate the anti-radiation suits after something happened and people died.

As for becoming famous because of his current act of giving and donation, this is also Haniyev's way of adding a talisman to himself. The reason why it was always reported on the internal radio and television of Kyiv State, and suddenly reported on April 14 and 15 in the Ukrainian National News Agency newspaper and the two giants of the Soviet Union, RIA Novosti and TASS, was because Haniyev asked Anatol to persuade Mr. Mike to report on himself in Reuters.

Because Haniyev was also a part-time reporter or informant for Reuters, in order to better win over Haniyev and obtain more information about the Chernobyl area, Mr. Mike agreed.

On April 12, Reuters was the first to report on Haniyev's good deeds, and used it to criticize the corruption of the Soviet political system and its inability to shape and cultivate heroes who could contribute to the country, nation and society.

The Soviet Union, which was gradually at a disadvantage in the Cold War and even almost completely failed in the ideological struggle, was completely led by the West after Gorbachev came to power and carried out major reforms.

Therefore, any Soviet news reported by Western news agencies would always make high-ranking officials in the Soviet region extremely sensitive and respond excessively.

After Reuters reported on the selfless and fearless dedication of Haniyev and Kartov and criticized the Soviet system, in order to show that the Soviet Union was not what the Western news agencies said, Ukraine and Russia followed suit and reported extensively on the deeds of Haniyev and Kartov, and praised Chernobyl for its perfect elimination of incompetent elements under the guidance of the General Secretary, and for its strict local management and maintenance in accordance with the latest nuclear power plant management system.

This was the first time that Haniyev used Reuters to "save the country in a roundabout way." His own fame was secondary; his main purpose was to make the country pay attention to the safety production of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

However, even though the Pripyat city team was replaced and many leading cadres were sent to Siberia to build railways, neither the Chernobyl region nor the Kiev Oblast invited nuclear energy experts from Moscow to inspect and guide the production and maintenance of nuclear power plants. It is obvious that they did not believe that the Three Mile Island nuclear leak accident in the United States would never happen in the great Soviet Union.

Knowing that no leader took it seriously, Haniyev felt disheartened. He knew that the accident might be unavoidable.

If an accident occurs, all I have to do is rely on my sufficient fame and influence to lift the lid as soon as possible, so as to protect the lives of millions of people in the radiation zone.

At the same time, because he was famous and had received attention from foreign media, no matter how angry the Soviet officials were, they would not dare to take him down. After all, Gorbachev wanted to reform and turn around the sinking Soviet Union, pinning his hopes on the rich and dynamic Western system.

Haniyev felt that he had enough confidence thanks to the general secretary who had great admiration for the West and the mentality that the moon in the West is rounder than the East, which was prevalent in the Soviet Union.

He was confident that as long as he kept in touch with Reuters and asked them to report on him as soon as possible in the future, he would not be able to become Dr. Wenliang. To a certain extent, he would have a golden ticket to immunity even if the accident happened.

Kartov wanted promotion and wealth, while Haniyev wanted bigger and more. So although Kartov and Haniyev had different goals, they chose the same behavior, which was to quickly become political celebrities by embezzling public funds to buy anti-radiation clothing. The only difference was that one wanted to increase his own value, while the other was preparing to "become a god in one battle."

Chapter 040 Mayor

Time passed quickly, and after Haniyev worked hard for half a month to give away all the thousands of anti-radiation suits he had.

Chekhov finally dealt with the leadership team of Pripyat. Not only did he dismiss a large number of cadres, but he also sent several of them to Siberia for labor reform.

At the same time, a large number of leaders were reappointed, including secretaries sent from other areas of the Kiev Oblast. The former mayor Gladkov was promoted to second secretary, and the mayor's position was left vacant by Chekhov.

In the early morning of April 21, Haniyev received a phone call from the regional party committee office, informing him that he had won the trust of the organization and was promoted to mayor of Pripyat.

So, after Haniyev took office as the town-level secretary in the Chernobyl region in January, he was promoted to deputy county-level in just over three months. Then, less than a month later, under Chekhov's manipulation, he was promoted to the mayor of Pripyat, a county-level position.

Haniyev just celebrated his 27th birthday this year. He has reached the county level at this age. Haniyev feels very proud. After all, in a certain big country in the East at the same time, even the person who became an official decades later was only a deputy county level when he was the same age as him.

But Haniyev thought again. The Chernobyl area has only 300,000 to 400,000 people. Although it is a region in name, Ukraine is only a provincial and ministerial unit in the Soviet system. The Kyiv Oblast is just a regional system in a big Eastern country, and Chernobyl is only at the county level. Compared with a big Eastern country, whether it is calculated from the population under jurisdiction, administrative area and level, he is actually just a township party committee secretary at the section level.

But no matter what level he is, Haniyev feels that as long as he can climb to the deputy ministerial level of the Republic of Ukraine before the disintegration, and as long as he plans properly, when the Soviet Union disintegrates, he can directly enter the central government, or at worst enter the cabinet of the first president Kravchuk, and then strive to become Ukraine's Putin or Lukashenko.

Haniyev thought about the fact that he was just the "mayor" of a large town with hundreds of thousands of people in charge, and the complacency in his heart immediately disappeared.

I remember that there were eight or nine steps from the mayor of Pripyat to the first secretary of Ukraine, and if you wanted to enter the Soviet Union, there were more than ten steps.

Instead of feeling proud, Haniyev felt secretly ashamed, and his fighting spirit became even higher.

Upon learning that he was promoted rapidly to become the mayor of Pripyat because of Chekovyev's strong opposition, Haniyev personally called Chekovyev and expressed his gratitude.

Chekhov was clearly pleased with Haniyev's understanding and politeness. After a few words of encouragement, he smiled and said, "Victor, you can start your new position. The Pripyat city government is basically a new team, but the second secretary is Gladkov, a veteran. I heard you have a good relationship, so you should be able to adapt quickly."

Haniyev said respectfully into the microphone: "Thank you, Secretary Chekhov, for your promotion and important position. I will definitely unite closely with you and strictly implement your decisions..."

Haniyev's confession of loyalty made Chekhov delighted.

As the local emperor of Chernobyl, Chekhov was not without flatterers around him, but since he met Haniyev, he found that the person he liked and admired the most was Haniyev.

It was not only because Haniyev had outstanding work ability, but also because Chekhov didn't know why, but Master Haniyev could make him chat happily, and even his admiration and respect for him was sincere, which made him involuntarily want to respect him and train him.

After Haniyev hung up the phone, Kartov also learned the news and happily went into Haniyev's office to congratulate him.

That evening, Haniyev, Kartov and Gladkov went to Sasha's home in Red Pine Village again for a big meal and celebration.

After drinking too much, Kartov patted Haniyev's shoulder happily and said, "Victor Vladimirevich, you are really our lucky star.

You've only been here for a little over four months, and Gladkov and I have both been promoted because of you, and you've even been promoted twice. I wouldn't be surprised if you said you were a relative of Shcherbitsky's. If your father didn't help you, and you relied entirely on yourself, it's really unbelievable."

Gladkov also agreed: "Yes, it's very admirable."

After hearing this and thinking about it carefully, Haniyev felt that it was indeed a little hard to believe if it had not happened in reality.

After thinking for a moment, he smiled and said, "Maybe it's God's blessing. Haha, maybe I am the one sent by God to save the Soviet Union."

Kartov had long been convinced by Haniyev. Upon hearing this, he hugged him and pulled Sasha to hug Haniyev together. He said, "Oh, dear Viktor, I hope to see you become the First Secretary of the Republic before I retire. Even if I can't climb that high, I hope you can become a member of the Central Committee of Ukraine. That way, when I retire, I can choose the best sanatorium to spend my old age in peace."

"Ha ha……"

After chatting and laughing, the three of them got drunk.

The next morning, Haniyev and his two companions returned to Chernobyl. Haniyev needed to report to Pripyat with Gladkov, so he did not return to Gaopodi Village.

After following Kartov back to the Forestry Committee office, Haniyev first called Grigory to arrange the work at the forest farm.

With Grigory's blessing, Haniyev and Gladkov returned to Pripyat, 18 kilometers northwest of Chernobyl.