Servant of the People in Kyiv

Nicholas smiled brightly and said, "You're very confident. No wonder you've been cracking down on gangs and evil since arriving in Yalta, and have achieved good results. My grandfather even asked about your situation a few days ago."

Haniyev immediately became interested and asked, "What did the old man say?"

"Of course I'm praising you for your ability."

Nikolay chuckled and said, "Your abilities are certainly obvious to all, but we didn't expect you to achieve so much so quickly in power. My grandfather said that if you had been born forty years earlier, you wouldn't have had a chance to become Ukraine's First Secretary."

Although Haniyev felt rather elated, he did not dare to show off. He was busy being modest and polite, flattering Sherbitsky and expressing his admiration for Sherbitsky without reservation.

Nicholas laughed heartily and said, "My grandfather asked about you just before he went home. He heard that your 'Three Transformations' campaign is going strong, and he really wants to see it with his own eyes."

"Thank you for your concern, Secretary. Without you, I wouldn't be where I am today. I certainly can't embarrass him."

Haniyev chuckled and asked, "But why are you still on duty at the Mariinsky Palace so late? Aren't you coming with the old man tomorrow?"

Nicholas coughed lightly and said, "I am now the first deputy director of the Central Committee Office. I cannot leave my post at will. My grandfather will go there by himself tomorrow."

Hanyev repeatedly expressed his congratulations and thought to himself: It seems that Sherbitsky arranged a good position for Nikolay before retiring.

Haniyev knew very well that Sherbitsky was paving the way for his grandson Nikolai on the one hand, but more importantly, he was probably placing one of his own people in the central government to prevent himself from being far away from the center of power and being completely marginalized by his successor.

Haniyev whispered, "Has Moscow appointed a new First Secretary of Ukraine?"

Nicholas was silent for a moment, then said, "My grandfather readily stepped down, and Gordi didn't dare to go too far. So the new First Secretary followed my grandfather's advice and appointed the person he recommended. The official appointment document may be issued tomorrow."

"Who is it?" Haniyev asked.

"Stanislav Ivanovich Gurenko."

Haniyev immediately understood.

Gulenko is seventeen years younger than Sherbitsky and was promoted by Sherbitsky. In the first half of this year, he was the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine. Last month, he was promoted to the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party of Ukraine. At that time, Haniyev speculated that Sherbitsky was preparing to train Gulenko to take over.

Now that Gorbachev has respected Sherbitsky's wishes and appointed Gulenko as the First Secretary of Ukraine, Sherbitsky can rest assured and live as the emperor in the Friendship Sanatorium.

After exchanging some information, Haniyev hung up the phone.

After pondering for a long time, Haniyev went back to his bedroom to rest.

The next day at noon, Vyshevsky drove Haniyev to Simferopol Airport.

When Haniyev arrived at the airport, the huge airport had been cleared by the Ministry of Internal Affairs police.

There was only one flight at the airport today, and that was Sherbitsky's private plane.

The entire provincial party committee and Soviet team, led by Secretary Wrangel, were also waiting at the airport.

In addition to the leadership team of the Crimean Oblast and Haniyev, dozens of carefully selected elementary and middle school students from the provincial capital were waiting in front of the airport runway with flowers in their hands.

When the clock hands pointed to two o'clock in the afternoon, an Il-86 passenger plane flew out from the clouds, slowly landed, and taxied to a stop in front of everyone.

As the cabin door opened, an old man with a slicked-back hair and wearing a short-sleeved shirt walked out with an old woman.

These two old men are none other than Ukraine’s uncrowned king Shcherbitsky and his wife.

Chapter 081 Your Future is Bright

Saturday, November 1986, 7

Today is a holiday, but Haniyev did not sleep in. He got up at around seven in the morning, washed up in a hurry, and then called his family in Kiev to briefly inquire about the situation.

By the time Haniyev hung up, Vyshevsky had already opened the door and walked in. "Victor, today's breakfast at the Friendship Sanatorium is bear meat and caviar. Let's get going."

Haniyev took off his bathrobe, changed into a long-sleeved shirt, and went downstairs with Vyshevsky to the car and drove all the way to the Friendship Sanatorium.

The day before yesterday afternoon, after arriving at Simferopol Airport, the Sherbitskys took a special car to the Friendship Sanatorium.

The provincial party committee also accompanied them. After a simple welcome party was held at the Friendship Sanatorium, Sherbitsky directly asked Wrangel and others to leave.

In the end, apart from the Sherbitskys and their security personnel, only Haniyev remained in the huge Friendship Sanatorium.

After briefly asking about Haniyev's work, Sherbitsky encouraged him a few words and then yawned.

Haniyev was naturally not a person without tact, so he said goodbye and left immediately.

Haniyev knew very well that Sherbitsky had come to stay and show his closeness to him in order to show it to the provincial leadership and even to Moscow, to endorse and support him, and at the same time to reinforce his own brand as Sherbitsky.

However, Haniyev was not disgusted, but very grateful, because since ancient times, if a small person wants to achieve great results, he must have the support of a big person, and Sherbitsky is the biggest person he can get.

After Sherbitsky was admitted to the Friendship Sanatorium, Haniyev would rush to the sanatorium every day to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with him, treating the Sherbitskys as if they were his own father and mother.

Even though Haniyev went to the Friendship Sanatorium every day, the time he actually spent with the Sherbitskys was not long, because Sherbitsky still had to spend a lot of time every day reading telegrams, faxes, and documents sent from Kiev, and even giving orders on many things.

Although Shcherbytsky has just stepped down as the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, he will still serve as a member of the Politburo of the Soviet Union before the second session of the 27th Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party next year. Therefore, everyone knows that his resignation now is just to temporarily avoid the edge of Gorbachev, and it is hard to say when he will be able to serve as the First Secretary of Ukraine again.

However, whether in Kiev or Crimea, the leaders still respected Sherbitsky. However, Haniyev approached and admired Sherbitsky as Nikolay's close friend. Compared with Haniyev's methods during the Chernobyl incident, the contrast formed by this flattery seemed very sincere, and obviously it was what Sherbitsky benefited the most.

This morning, after Vyshevsky sent Haniyev to the Friendship Sanatorium, he drove to the more remote Vorontsov residence to inspect the beautification and lighting work.

Haniyev went straight to the highest gear apartment.

Several agents from the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kiev nodded to Haniyev, and then one of them went to report to Shcherbitsky.

After a while, the door opened and an agent said, "Secretary Haniyev, please come in."

Hanyev nodded, entered the apartment, and saw the Shcherbitskys sitting at the dining table covered with a Cossack print tablecloth, eating caviar pancakes.

Haniyev bowed slightly and said, "Secretary Sherbitsky, Madam, good morning."

Shcherbitsky pointed to the seat at the table, and Mrs. Shcherbitsky carefully took out a knife and fork, smiling and saying, "Victor, you are so busy, you don't have to think about coming to eat with us."

Haniyev smiled and said, "Nikola is my good friend. I will take good care of you for him. I am also the local official in Yalta, so I have to serve you two great leaders well. As long as you don't find me annoying, I will accompany you two well."

Mrs. Shcherbitsky enthusiastically asked the apartment nanny to serve Haniyev some soup. She whispered, "Come to think of it, this is my first time living permanently in Yalta. As we get older, we tend to feel nostalgic. If you hadn't come to keep us company every day, Victor, I really wouldn't be used to it."

Haniyev chuckled. Sherbitsky finished a piece of bear steak on his plate, wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, pointed at Haniyev's plate, and said, "Eat quickly. Come meet me in the study later."

After saying this, Sherbitsky stood up and left. Haniyev hurriedly stood up and watched him go. After Sherbitsky left, the old lady pulled Haniyev to sit down and said, "Hurry up and eat. The old man wants you to help him. He said last night that you have good character. He wanted you to learn from him in the future so that he can promote you and make you a useful person."

After hearing this, Haniyev knew that he had passed the probing stage of Sherbitsky.

Although Haniyev gained Sherbitsky's respect for his handling of the nuclear leak, respect and trust are not the same thing.

Therefore, in order to make Sherbitsky completely trust and like him, Haniyev started the two fires of "cracking down on gangsters and eliminating evil" and "three-transformation movement" after taking office. At the same time, after the Sherbitskys were admitted to the sanatorium, he came to accompany the Sherbitskys every day on the pretext that Nikolay had given him instructions. His purpose was to take advantage of the low point in Sherbitsky's political career to make his presence felt. He was even shameless and forced himself to do so. As a result, the Sherbitskys were indeed very satisfied.

After wolfing down his breakfast, Haniyev said goodbye to the old lady and went to the study on the second floor.

There were agents from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB inside and outside the Friendship Sanatorium and the apartments. Even the staff in the kitchen, gym, swimming pool and logistics were replaced by plainclothes agents.

When Haniyev walked to the door of the study, two agents pushed the door open naturally, obviously having received orders from Sherbitsky.

When Haniyev walked into the study, he saw Sherbitsky and his secretary looking at several documents sent by the Ukrainian Council of Ministers.

Seeing Haniyev come in, Sherbitsky pointed to the sofa in front of him and said, "Sit down and listen and watch more."

Haniyev knew that Sherbitsky was intentionally cultivating him so that he could get involved in central work as soon as possible, so he sat down obediently.

Watching Sherbitsky approving several resolutions of the Ukrainian central government.

After a while, Shcherbitsky handed the document to his secretary and said, "Send it by fax first, and then mail the original."

The secretary agreed and left quickly.

Shcherbitsky reached for the teacup, and Hanyev hastily handed it to him.

After taking a sip of tea, Sherbitsky looked at Haniyev with satisfaction and said, "Victor, I never hesitate to praise my subordinates. You showed the responsibility and courage of a Soviet soldier in Chernobyl, which I admire very much. However, the many actions you have taken since taking office in Yalta have shown that you also have outstanding talents in local governance. In my opinion, you have done a good job.

However, what the Soviet Union lacks the least is capable people. I am very pleased that you are actively approaching me, so your future will be bright.

You can do some secretarial work in my study in the future, which will be beneficial to your future development."

Chapter 082 Economic Reform of Ge Map

Secretary Sherbitsky did not hide his attitude. He clearly expressed his attitude to Haniyev and praised Haniyev's work without hesitation.

For Sherbitsky, unless he is communicating with top figures like General Secretary Gorbachev and Prime Minister Ryzhkov, he still needs to use his brain and pay attention to the choice of words and sentences. When talking to other people, he doesn't need to be too particular. Most of the time, he just needs to reveal his true opinions.

For people at his level, it is basically others who try to figure out his thoughts, so he becomes less and less concerned about the details.

For Sherbysky, Haniyev is a junior whom he is very optimistic about.

After recognizing Haniyev's abilities, Sherbitsky planned to train him as a candidate for the next generation of Ukraine's leadership team. That's why he intended to let his grandson befriend Haniyev, thinking that if Haniyev really grew up to a certain level, he could become a support for his grandson's generation.

Therefore, Sherbysky was more genuine towards Haniyev and his intention to cultivate him was genuine.

Haniyev felt Sherbitsky's attitude and felt warm in his heart. He didn't know that it was precisely because he was sincere to Sherbitsky that Sherbitsky, the experienced and shrewd helmsman of Ukraine, would truly appreciate him.

For Haniyev, he sincerely hopes that Shcherbysky will continue to control Ukrainian politics and lead the Ukrainian Republic onto the path of reform.

Although Shcherbitsky was old and ossified, and as corrupt as most Soviet politicians of Brezhnev's generation, he had many good qualities.

Sherbytsky is tough and has great prestige in Ukraine. Only with him as the leader of Ukraine can the Ukrainian central government control Ukraine's development and future.

If Sherbitsky controls Ukraine for a long time, with his ability to control Ukraine and his tough approach, even if the Soviet Union still disintegrates in a few years, the Rukh movement will definitely not develop, and ethnic separatism will have no room to develop and expand.

Although Haniyev is a Ukrainian, he is currently also a Soviet citizen and a Soviet civil servant.

Even though the Soviet Union was on the decline, it was still one of the two poles of the world. Whether for the sake of Ukraine's fate or for his own fate, it was a good thing to keep the Soviet Union strong and long-lived.

Even if the collapse of the Soviet Union is irreversible, allowing her to live longer and die more honorably would be beneficial to Ukraine and Haniyev himself.

Haniyev has always believed that allowing Secretary Sherbitsky to continue to be active in Soviet politics and to be in charge of Ukraine would, on the one hand, prevent Gorbachev from being too unreasonable in his reforms, and on the other hand, stabilize Ukraine, which would be entirely beneficial to the future of the Soviet Union and Ukraine.

At the same time, Haniyev has become a person in Secretary Sherbytsky's heart, so his continued rule over Ukraine will be very beneficial to Haniyev's political future. This is also one of the reasons why Haniyev really wants to get close to Sherbytsky.

Haniyev is not a profit-driven person. Both publicly and privately, he sincerely hopes that Cherbitsky will be in good health and have a long political career. Based on this understanding, Haniyev's support and care for Cherbitsky are sincere and from the bottom of his heart. After Cherbitsky came to the Friendship Sanatorium, his concern and greetings for the couple were even more sincere.

Both Sherbitsky and Mrs. Sherbitsky could clearly feel this. It was precisely because they truly felt that Haniyev was not just considering their interests, but also had some sincerity, that Sherbitsky was completely confident in Haniyev and was willing to cultivate Haniyev carefully. That is why he made a clear statement today, saying words that were half promise and half expectation.

Haniyev naturally expressed his gratitude to Sherbysky with great tact.

After the conversation, Sherbitsky handed a document to Haniyev and said, "This contains some ideas of our General Secretary on economic reform.

He was an extremely intelligent man, and he had several economic experts to advise him. In his eyes, this reform plan seemed to be the lifeblood of the Soviet Union, which could restore its youth.

This plan was passed at the Politburo meeting in June, but because Prime Minister Ryzhkov and I had some different opinions, it was delayed for a few days. The resolution was only formed and issued a few days ago.

The current plan is being circulated and studied by the First Secretaries, Ministers, and Governors of each Republic. This month, your municipal Party secretaries will also study it. Take a look at it now and share your thoughts.

From memory, Haniyev could imagine that after Gorbachev suppressed Shcherbysky, the Soviet conservatives were at a disadvantage, and Gorbachev would launch a series of reform measures in order to promote deeper reforms.

It seems that the first thing they proposed was economic reform, and then they launched political system reform about two years before the collapse, and eventually destroyed the Soviet Union with their own hands.

However, Haniyev did not have a deep memory of the specific reform plans and measures. He was also very curious about what Gorbachev would do, so he took the document with a solemn expression.

Before unfolding the document, Haniyev was still sighing in his heart. Judging from the experience of the future disintegration of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev's reforms were a complete farce. His reforms did not play a positive role in the Soviet Union. Instead, they caused the rapid disintegration and sinking of this ancient and rigid empire, and handed over huge national capital to corrupt elements and Americans.

Haniyev is well aware that since ancient times, reforms have always been a mixed bag of good and bad, and any slight mistake would be a tragedy.

Obviously, Gotmap was a fool and his reforms were misjudgments made under the influence of American spies.

Even if his starting point was good, for the Soviet Union, Gorbachev's behavior was no less than that of Polpot in Cambodia. After all, Polpot's starting point was also good.

With a cold snort, Haniyev began to look at the contents of the document carefully.

About ten minutes later, Haniyev closed the document, looked up at Shcherbitsky, and asked, "Secretary, what are your thoughts on the General Secretary's economic reforms? I don't think I fully understand them."

In February of this year, Gorbachev proposed the demand for a thorough reform of the Soviet Union's economic system, but there has been no specific plan. However, after reading this document, Haniyev seemed to understand some of Gorbachev's ideas.

Gorbachev wanted to abolish all the target responsibilities of the Soviet and the Party for economic development and task allocation, and give full power to private capital and all state-owned and private enterprises, allowing them to develop freely. The goal was to move from a planned economy to a market economy and pursue a flourishing and prosperous scene.

This idea seemed good, but considering the future collapse of the Soviet economy, Haniyev knew that Gorbachev's move was completely wrong. It was a self-defeating and botched move.

It was precisely because he knew that Gorbachev's first step of economic reform was completely wrong that Haniyev became increasingly reluctant to express his opinions.

Chapter 083: Rescue Digging into the Soviet Corner

Sherbitsky snorted as he looked at Haniyev sitting upright, obviously he had noticed what Haniyev was thinking.

He smiled slightly, pointed to the document, and said, "Our general secretary wants reform, but a market economy system may not necessarily succeed."

Haniyev laughed and echoed, "You are the backbone of our Soviet Union. If you say that the Gorbachev reform is unsuccessful, then it definitely won't work."

Shcherbitsky frowned, reprimanded Haniyev, and then said, "Why are you being so dishonest? You must have an opinion. Tell me."

Haniyev is now in the same boat with Sherbitsky. If Sherbitsky is in trouble, Haniyev will also be in trouble. Haniyev's misfortune will also be related to Sherbitsky to some extent.

Knowing that Shcherbitsky was really going to speak for himself, Haniyev thought for a moment and said, “Gorbachev wanted to shift the Soviet Union’s economic development model from a planned economy to a market economy, and that was indeed something he had considered.

If a complete transformation could be achieved, it would be a rebirth for the Soviet economy. However, a market economy is not the same as a free economy. Gorbachev actually wants to completely open up the market and let the people run their own businesses. Isn't this just breeding corruption and allowing national interests to be quickly divided up by those in power?

Shcherbitsky took a sip of coffee and smiled. "Go on," he said. "Why does an open market breed corruption?"