Servant of the People in Kyiv

Thinking that they were about to enter the deep waters of Soviet political reform, Haniyev couldn't help but get ready.

He started working at the end of 1980, and only then did he get political opportunities after he seized the opportunity to serve as secretary of the state-owned forest farm on the high slopes of the Chernobyl area in early 1986. In just three years, Haniyev was promoted from a township-level cadre to the second secretary of the provincial party committee at the ministerial level, which is very rare in Soviet history.

Although Haniyev's "ministerial level" is inflated, and strictly speaking it can only be regarded as the bureau level under the Soviet system, he is indeed very close to entering the Ukrainian central government.

If there had not been the crisis of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Haniyev would have had the trust and training of Sherbitsky. Ten years later, when he was about 40 years old, he would have certainly become the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Ukraine or even the First Secretary, and would have had the opportunity to strive to become the supreme leader of the Soviet Union.

But Haniyev's era was too late, and the Soviet Union was about to become a thing of the past. Haniyev's step-by-step promotion was no longer feasible, and he could only find ways to move faster, because if he didn't move fast, he couldn't change the country's destiny.

According to the arrangements and deployment of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the first Congress of People's Representatives would be held in mid-to-late May, and the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union would be elected at the meeting, confirming the success of the Soviet Union's reform experiment from one-party dictatorship to democratic elections.

Although Haniyev despised Yeltsin from the bottom of his heart and hated this drunkard who ruined the future of the Soviet Union and Russia, he knew that he would be the head of Russia in the future. For the sake of his own interests and Ukraine's interests, it was necessary to maintain a good relationship with Yeltsin.

So starting in mid-April, Haniyev began secret talks with Makar and Gonchar.

Haniyev has made a lot of arrangements for the two of them to go to Moscow to attend the People's Congress as people's representatives. The so-called voting and election of people's representatives is currently just a formality.

Makar and his companions went with the Ukrainian People's Delegation. The election was naturally based on Sherbitsky's will, so Haniyev did not intend to force them and had no additional requirements for them. He just asked them to find ways to establish friendship with Yeltsin.

As great intellectuals, Makar and Gonchar have always been very supportive of Gorbachev's reforms and are also quite optimistic about Yeltsin's active reforms. However, after studying and implementing Haniyev's spirit of "rational reform", they have regained their sanity and no longer blindly believed in the effectiveness of the current reforms. However, they still admire the brave Yeltsin very much.

With this emotional foundation, when they learned that Haniyev wanted them to establish friendship with Yeltsin and make Yeltsin a friend of the Ukrainian people's movement, Makar and Gonchar both agreed with joy.

In April 1989, Haniyev was strategizing in Kiev, slowly laying the groundwork for a groundbreaking event two years later.

The Central Committee of the CPSU also held consecutive meetings of the Politburo and the Central Committee in preparation for the upcoming Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. Sherbitsky went to Moscow to attend the meeting at the end of March. Due to the recent busy meetings of the Central Committee, he did not return until mid-April.

On April 18, Haniyev called Potanin to inquire about the election of Russian people's representatives, but learned that Potanin had just resigned from his leadership position in the Ministry of Foreign Trade, established a foreign trade company, and began to rely on his connections to undertake foreign procurement business and connect with domestic factories.

Potanin happily told Haniyev that he had just established the company on the 15th and had received five or six large orders. He only needed to rely on his connections to coordinate and earn tens of thousands of rubles. He was full of confidence in the foreign trade company he founded and believed that it would only take three to five years for him to become rich enough to rival a country.

Chapter 246 State First Secretary

After hanging up the phone with Potanin, Haniyev smiled slightly as he recalled Potanin's choice and his future fate.

"Potanin's fate has already begun to change. I'm afraid he'll be a mining tycoon by the time we meet again."

……

On Wednesday, April 18, the three members of the Haniyev family bid farewell to their reluctant relatives and left Kiev for Lutsk.

After taking more than a month's leave, Haniyev finally finished what he was supposed to do. It was time to return to his job and perform his duties.

Seryosha, who was already familiar with Haniyev's family, acted as both driver and bodyguard along the way. Because they were well prepared and Seryosha was very worry-free, the Haniyev couple did not look embarrassed at all even though they went out with their children.

That evening, the car drove into the center of Lutsk, turned twice on the small road behind the provincial party committee and Soviet committee office building, and entered a residential compound.

This is the provincial party committee's family compound, where senior cadres of the Volyn Provincial Party Committee and the Soviet live. After Haniyev took office, his dormitory was also assigned to Building 44 here.

In about half an hour, Seryosha and Haniyev had packed up the dormitory. The furniture and appliances here were all available, and they were all West German Siemens brands and Italian famous brands. They were high-quality goods specially approved by the First Secretary Kharchenko for Haniyev. Haniyev used to live here alone, and usually he just treated it as a hotel, sleeping here when he went out early and came back late.

But now that my wife and son are here, I have to treat this dormitory like my home.

Tatyana was naturally satisfied with the dormitory of the provincial party committee leaders, but after holding Paul for a walk, she still took out a list and asked Haniyev to purchase all the supplies as soon as possible, otherwise it would still not look like a home.

Haniyev handed the list of supplies to Seryosha, who nodded and walked out before he could say anything.

As the leader's driver, Seryosha also lived in the provincial party committee's family compound, but in Building 88, which was on the road. He was a highly qualified soldier and was already familiar with everything in Lutsk. He knew better than anyone where to buy anything his wife needed.

Paul started to make a noise. Tatiana held him and sat down, lifting her clothes. Little Paul quickly grabbed the meal ticket and wrapped it up. Haniyev turned to wash his hands. When he came back, he saw Tatiana taking her wallet out of her bag with one hand. "I brought over 20,000 rubles in cash, which should be enough. Seryosha left in a hurry just now and didn't bring any money. It's going to cost a lot to buy all those things. Give him a call and ask him to come back to get the money."

Haniyev smiled faintly. "My dear, you don't understand. Seryosha is my driver. As the Second Secretary of the Volyn Party Committee, all my expenses in Lutsk are paid for by the organization. No matter how much Seryosha spends, as long as it's reasonable, he will be reimbursed normally. If the amount is too large, he can send someone to deliver it first and pay later, or he can go directly to the finance department to get a receipt and buy it. In short, don't worry about him. He won't suffer any loss."

Tatiana nodded. "Then I don't care. Seryosha is very loyal to you. We can't let him suffer any loss."

"Of course. He's our driver and bodyguard, and my confidant in Warren. I can't bear to offend him..."

And so the Haniyev family settled in Lutsk.

The next day, Haniyev went to work as usual. He first went to meet the first secretary Kharchenko. Kharchenko never had any requirements for Haniyev's work and was very surprised that he came back with his wife and children. He immediately called the director of the party committee office, the chairman of the trade union and other cadres to the office and asked them to immediately provide Secretary Haniyev with more supplies, furniture and appliances. At the same time, he selected two excellent nannies from the sanatorium to live in Haniyev's dormitory to help take care of the children and manage his life.

Haniyev was polite and was happy to accept the offer after seeing that he could not refuse it. After chatting for a few minutes, Haniyev went to his office.

After receiving the news, many leaders of departments under Haniyev's charge came to Haniyev one after another to report on their work. Some leaders also had some work-related difficulties that required Haniyev's help in coordinating and solving.

Haniyev never felt that tedious work was painful. He had been promoted a lot since he became the second secretary, which was an experience he had never had in other positions before. Unlike the first secretary of the municipal party committee, the provincial party committee had more work to do, and his importance as the second secretary in charge of more than a dozen departments in Volyn Province was unquestionable. He could be very busy as long as he wanted.

With the purpose of training himself, Haniyev actively and proactively handles his work and helps various departments coordinate financial personnel in order to better complete the tasks assigned to various departments by the Party Committee and the government.

In this way, Haniyev was busy in Lutsk for more than ten days. It was also because he took too long a leave to return to Kiev, and a lot of work was piled up and urgently needed his approval.

In order to handle work, Haniyev did not even visit the Western Committee until the end of April. He only met Ivanov at home once on the night of the 27th to learn about the recent developments and situation of the Western Committee, and also gave Ivanov and others some words of encouragement.

Haniyev originally thought that he would need to train urgently in Lutsk for a while, but on the evening of the 30th, after Haniyev took his wife and son to play around Lutsk for a day, he just returned home and saw his secretary Roman standing anxiously at the door waiting for him.

"Where have you been, Secretary? My cell phone number is disconnected. Comrade Seryosha's phone number is also disconnected."

Haniyev frowned and turned around. He and Seryosha took out their phones at the same time and saw that neither of them was turned off. Haniyev asked, "Is there no signal in the wild where we are?"

"should be."

Seryosha nodded and asked, "Comrade Roman, what do you want to see the Secretary?"

Roman smiled and nodded: "Congratulations, Secretary Haniyev.

This afternoon, the Party Committee Office received an order from the Kyiv Central Committee stating that the First Secretary of Rivne Oblast has passed away due to illness. The Central Committee has decided to appoint you as the First Secretary of Rivne Oblast and requires you to arrive in Rivne next Monday to take up your post. Secretary Kharchenko asked me to tell you this good news today.

Today is Sunday, and Haniyev took a break from his busy schedule to take his wife and son out for a trip to the wild. Unexpectedly, when he came back, he learned that he had been promoted and given an important position. You know, the first secretary of the state is the highest local leader who is directly responsible to the Central Committee of the Party of Ukraine.

I became the first secretary of the province this year. In the future, whether I go to Kharkiv or Kiev, it will be a lateral transfer, and I also have the opportunity to directly enter the central government.

Chapter 247 The Political Wisdom of the State First Secretary

From the perspective of his personal career, Haniyev has taken another big step forward by becoming the first secretary of the state.

Although the first secretary of the state, the chairman of the state Soviet and some second secretaries are all so-called state-level cadres, there is a huge gap between the state-level and state-level cadres.

This involves the essential issue of the power of a position.

Only by becoming the first secretary of a state can one be qualified to become the top leader of a central ministry or a commission, and only then can one be qualified to become a secretary of the Central Secretariat. Only the first secretary of a state can get the ticket to become a central leader. It can be said that whether one can become the first secretary of a state determines how high the upper limit of a Soviet cadre is.

Other prefectural-level officials may only be able to stay at the prefectural-level, but as long as the prefectural first secretary does not make mistakes, he can definitely go further. At worst, he can serve as the head of a ministry for one term, and even have the hope of becoming a leader of the Party and the country.

Since last year, Haniyev has been striving to become the governor of Kharkiv Oblast, then the secretary, and finally the Central Committee of the Party of Ukraine, completing a perfect transformation and squeezing into the round table of Ukraine's highest power before Ukraine's independence.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. Gulenko, the First Secretary of Ukraine at the time, had been eliminating dissidents and suppressing people from the Sherbitsky faction. As a young cadre valued by Sherbitsky, Gulenko naturally would not promote Haniyev. Therefore, Haniyev spent a whole year on the bench in the Education Commission last year. If he had not found a way out for himself, taken the initiative and won the hearts of countless intellectuals, and launched a "Ukrainian People's Movement" to overthrow Gulenko, he probably would not have had the opportunity to get a provincial-level position this year.

Now that Sherbitsky has returned and firmly holds the position of First Secretary of Ukraine, Haniyev has also been rewarded as a close follower of the emperor. First, he was promoted to the provincial level, and now he has been promoted to the first secretary of the western Rivne Oblast. Although the area, population and economy of the ten western oblasts rank low among the Ukrainian oblasts, far less than the seven eastern oblasts and the eight central oblasts, no matter how poor they are, they are still the top leaders under the equal system. After all, they are the first secretary of the oblast. It will be much easier for them to be transferred to several large oblasts in the east than to be promoted.

After Haniyev sent his secretary Roman away, he danced with joy at home. After a moment, he sighed and cursed, "Damn Gulenko! If it weren't for that bastard who delayed me for a year, maybe I would have been in the Central Committee by now!"

Tatiana coaxed the child to sleep, then came over and hugged her husband, whispering in his ear, "Don't be so impatient, dear. You have to understand that you're only 29 years old. Although I'm not from the Central Organization Department, I know that senior cadres are generally older. I don't think there's anyone younger than you among the first secretaries of Ukraine's 25 oblasts. Don't be too greedy."

Haniyev perked up and nodded. "You're right. If there weren't any unexpected changes, I wouldn't be in a hurry at all. The youngest of the 25 oblast first secretaries is over 40. How could anyone be younger than me?"

"It's good that you know this. Shcherbitsky trusts you now and values ​​you. You're already the most promising cadre in Ukraine. But don't complain anymore. If the higher-ups and your colleagues find out, they'll think you're greedy."

Tatyana has always been very virtuous and never asked about her husband's work. She just supported him silently. Today was the first time she expressed her opinion on Haniyev's work.

After calming down, Haniyev hugged his wife and gave her a big kiss. "Thank you, dear. I was a little impatient just now and forgot the inevitable laws of the development of things. It's impossible for everything to go according to my wishes. I am very lucky to be the first secretary of the province now."

Haniyev quickly adjusted his mentality. Although he was in a hurry and time waited for no one, from 1986 to 1989, in just over three years, Haniyev had moved from the rank of section chief to the rank of minister. This speed was already astonishing enough and also showed Haniyev's luck and hard work.

The next morning, Haniyev went to Kharchenko's office and expressed his gratitude to him, mainly for Kharchenko's strong support for his work.

Kharchenko's attitude was as friendly as ever. He took Haniyev's hand and said, "Victor, you are a young man valued by Secretary Sherbitsky, and I was also promoted by the old secretary. We are family. How could I not support you in coming to Warren?

Now the old secretary has promoted you to be the First Secretary of Rivne Oblast. This is his great love for you. To be honest, I was also very surprised when I heard the news yesterday. Originally, when I talked to the old secretary, I told you that I would return to Kyiv to retire in May this year and let you take over my position. Unexpectedly, Secretary Pristin of Rivne Oblast suddenly died of an illness, so this position has been made available for you..."

Haniyev smiled slightly and nodded, "It's mainly because of the care of the old secretary. I will always remember your help to me and will never forget it."

Kharchenko nodded with satisfaction. "You're welcome. Rivne Oblast is Volyn's old neighbor. The two oblasts have similar industries, primarily agriculture, supplemented by industry. Their populations and areas are also comparable. However, Rivne Oblast's ethnic situation is not complicated. Although Pristin's work wasn't particularly good, he didn't leave a mess behind. As long as you don't rush into reforms, you'll definitely be able to do a good job as First Secretary. In two years, transfer to a larger oblast in the east. Won't better days come?"

In politics, sometimes it is necessary to maintain distance and not discuss personal relationships, but there are other times, especially when two officials are of equal rank, when it is very appropriate to discuss private topics, even those involving personal future and destiny.

Haniyev and Kharchenko do not need to think about anything when they talk now, they can say whatever comes to mind, because the two are Sherbitsky's disciples and political allies who are officials in the west. Kharchenko and Haniyev are thirty years apart in age and have completely different political futures, let alone any competition and conflict. So Kharchenko wants to do his best to help Haniyev and ask for a relationship to leave a guarantee for future generations. Haniyev wants to use Kharchenko's connections and wisdom to help him do a good job as the first secretary in Rivne Oblast.

In a blink of an eye, they talked for more than three hours. In order to explain more things to Haniyev, Kharchenko postponed all meetings and work arrangements for one day. He only planned to help Haniyev analyze the political landscape of Rivne Oblast, so that he could quickly sort out his thoughts after taking office tomorrow, grasp the power and do a good job.

In a rare moment of seriousness, Kharkiv imparted to Haniyev his decades of political experience, especially his insights on how to be a good first secretary of a province, without reservation.

Haniyev listened with great interest and was full of praise.

Chapter 248: Frontier Officials (1)

For Haniyev, achieving success in grassroots leadership positions came easily because he had already gained experience and was accustomed to having the final say and planning a city's development according to his own ideas.

Because grassroots units have small populations and small areas, many tasks are easy to arrange, but at the state level, there are many things involved and it cannot be done as one pleases.

The work of the first secretary of a province is not only related to the connection between the central and local governments, but also to the survival and development of more than one million people in a province. One move can affect the whole body. Haniyev's time in Volyn is short and he has not received enough training. Now he is about to go to work in Rivne Province. In order to avoid embarrassment and mistakes and to get into the state quickly, Haniyev urgently needs Kharchenko's wisdom.

Kharkhenko has served as the first secretary for more than ten years, and he was in charge of Volhynia and Transcarpathia, two provinces with more prominent problems. He has long since developed a wealth of political wisdom. He is also very familiar with the conditions in several surrounding provinces, and is very familiar with Rivne Province, just east of Volhynia. Several of his deputies have been transferred to Rivne Province.

After receiving instruction from Kharchenko, Haniyev immediately felt confident. Even though Rivne Oblast was unfamiliar to him, he was confident that he could quickly open up the situation and gain a firm foothold.

That evening, the Volyn Party Committee and the Soviet held a farewell banquet for Haniyev. A third secretary and secretary-general from Rivne Oblast came to pick up Haniyev, and everyone had a drink together that evening.

During the banquet, everyone toasted Haniyev. Everyone was very enthusiastic and showed great respect for him.

At this moment, within the Ukrainian party, at least among the department-level cadres and above, there is a consensus that Haniyev is Sherbitsky's confidant and the successor being trained to be the leader of the party and the country.

As such a young cadre, holding the important position of the provincial first secretary, no one dared to disrespect Haniyev.

After a few drinks, Haniyev was in high spirits. He was praised by others and seemed to be about to become the next first secretary of Ukraine. If it were not for the collapse of the Soviet Union hanging over his head, which made him wary, Haniyev thought that he would never be able to withstand people's sugar-coated bullets and would have to become arrogant.

The next morning, the Haniyev family got up early. With the farewell of the provincial party committee and the Soviet, the Haniyev family left the Lutsk compound by car. Led by the car of two leaders of Rivne Oblast, they headed east and soon arrived at Rivne, the capital of Rivne Oblast.

Although Lutsk is the capital of Volhynia, it is located on the southeastern border of Volhynia Oblast, less than 50 kilometers away from Rivne. Because of the close distance between the two cities, both commercial and political exchanges are very frequent.

Haniyev had not had a deep impression of Rivne Oblast before, or rather, he had not had a deep impression of most of the ten western oblasts. After all, these oblasts were not industrial centers and had not produced many famous people.

However, after Kharkhenko's introduction yesterday, Haniyev has formed a new impression of Rivne Oblast.

Rivne Oblast originally belonged to the Volyn region. After the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic liberated western Ukraine, it split the western states into more states, and Rivne Oblast came into being.

Rivne Oblast has an area of ​​2.01 square kilometers and a population of 134 million. Cultivated land accounts for 50% of the area and forest land accounts for 40%. The economic pillars are agricultural product cultivation and wood processing. The industrial base is weaker than that of Volyn, but because of its unique resources, its economic scale is not the worst in the west.

Moreover, because Rivne Oblast lacks industry and is mainly based on agriculture and forestry, there are very few Russians here, and most of the people are Ukrainians.

Therefore, among the hotbeds of Ukrainian nationalism in the west, Rivne Oblast is actually ranked high.

Mrs. Haniye had not arrived yet, but she had already planned the work she would do after becoming the first secretary. In addition to familiarizing herself with the situation and stabilizing it as soon as possible, she also had to move the Western Committee to Rivne. This was because Volyn was too close to Rivne and was located in the northeastern corner. If she wanted to better radiate the western provinces, moving to Rivne would naturally be the most convenient. Moreover, as the first secretary of Rivne Province, having the Western Committee under her own supervision would make it easier for her to help the committee develop the "people's movement."

Haniyev was highly regarded and welcomed when he took office in Volyn a few months ago. This time he came to Rivne Oblast to serve as the first secretary and was even more treated with courtesy and welcome.

The leaders of Rivne Oblast first took the Haniyev family to the high-end dormitory they had prepared. After the Haniyev family took a tour and expressed their satisfaction, Andrei Tugrov, the Third Secretary of Rivne Oblast, smiled and asked, "Your Excellency Secretary Haniyev, are you and your wife satisfied with our dormitory?"

"The conditions here are no worse than my dormitory in Lutsk. I'm very satisfied. Thank you very much."

Tatiana said, "There are still some things missing. After all, we are carrying a baby, which is inconvenient..."

Andrei hurriedly called over Krabe, the director of the provincial party committee's office, and said, "Stay here and see what the wife needs. Whatever she needs, you must arrange it immediately. We absolutely cannot let the First Secretary and his wife suffer any injustice in our Rivne!"

"Yes, Mr. Secretary Tugrove."

Tuglov looked down at his watch, then approached Haniyev and said, "Secretary Haniyev, our provincial party committee and Soviet comrades are waiting to see you. Do you think you would..."

Haniyev nodded and looked at his watch. It was already 10:30 in the morning. According to the procedure that Tugrov told him last night, there was a party committee meeting in Rivne Oblast waiting for him to attend this morning. This was a meeting to welcome him to his new post and also a meeting to listen to work reports from the state leaders.

"Dear Tanya, please clean up our house today. I will ask someone to find some nannies right away."

After hearing Haniyev's words, Tuglov slapped his forehead and said, "Don't blame me, Secretary. We have already arranged for your nanny. I don't know why they haven't arrived yet. Director Krabe, please invite the Secretary's nanny here immediately!"

Director Krabe apologized and walked out, sweating profusely. Haniyev didn't pursue the matter. He smiled and nodded, looking at Seryosha: "You stay and help the lady pack. If there's anything she needs to buy, go ahead and don't let her get tired."

Seryosha responded solemnly, and then followed Tatiana to arrange the furniture.

Tugrove smiled and asked, "Secretary, our meeting..."

Haniyev didn't make a big deal out of it. He intended to show the Rivne Oblast Party Committee and government his power, saying, "We'll go right away. Don't keep the comrades waiting."

Chapter 249: Frontier Officials (2)

Haniyev, dressed in a suit and tie, walked into the meeting room of the Rivne State Party Committee, accompanied by Tugrov, the secretary-general and others.

The leaders of the provincial party committee and government, who had been waiting for more than an hour and were still whispering to each other, stood up in unison when they saw Haniyev and others come in.

"Welcome, Secretary Haniyev!"

……