Vìsnik - Kiïvsʹkij nacìonalʹnij unìversitet ìmenì Tarasa Ševčenka: Ìstorìâ (Mar 2020)
Petro Shelest, Volodymyr Shcherbitsky and Richard Nixon: American “Trace” in the Fall of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine
Abstract
The article deals with the impact of disputes of leaders of the USSR over the visit of US President R. Nixon to the fall of the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine P. Shelest. The article was published in the ‘Washington Post’ by D. Anderson, which based on the CIA's secret materials contained information about the conflict between L. Brezhnev and P. Shelest regarding R. Nixon's visit and the support of General Secretary by V. Shcherbytsky, are analyzing. P. Shelest's position in the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee on the politics of Détente, R. Nixon's visit and his assessment of the foreign policy of L. Brezhnev is revealed. The positions of other members of the Politburo have been covered. The reasons and circumstances of the increasing influence of L. Brezhnev on the foreign policy of the USSR and the defeat of the supporters of the hard course and the class approach were found out. The role of the international factor in ending the political career of P. Shelest and ascending to the top of the political Olympus of the USSR V. Shcherbytsky was investigated. As a result of the study, it became known that P. Shelest was an conservator in the foreign policy of the USSR, demanded the suppression of the “Prague Spring”, was skeptical of the Détente and attempts of L. Brezhnev to establish personal contacts with Western leaders. The brutal bombing of North Vietnam and the death of Soviet citizens were a good reason for P. Shelest and N. Podgorny to endure R. Nixon's visit. P. Shelest's removal was due to internal reasons: his independence position, desire for economic autonomy, insufficiently decisive struggle with dissidents, complaints of other Ukrainian leaders. However, the sudden replacement of the leader of the republic on the eve of the arrival of the President of the United States in Kiev may have been caused by P. Shelest's position regarding Détente and visit of R. Nixon.
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