Vladimir Velichko

Vladimir Makarovich Velichko (; born 23 April 1937) is a Soviet official and entrepreneur appointed as the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers in 1991.

Life and career Velichko was born into a working-class family in the village of Mozhayskoye Novousmanskogo in Voronezh Oblast, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Union According to United Russia's homepage, Velichko started his career in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. He began studying at the Leningrad Military Mechanical Institute in 1955, graduating as a mechanical engineer in 1961.

Soviet politics In 1963, Velichko joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), and began work at a factory in Leningrad belonging to the Ministry of General Machine Building. He became Deputy Chief of the plant in 1965, and deputy director in 1971. Between 1973 and 1975, Velichko worked as the plant's manager and from 1985 to 1990, he served as a member of the CPSU Central Committee, later becoming a Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. He was a member of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers during the premiership of Nikolai Ryzhkov, and later became a First Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers during Valentin Pavlov's Prime Ministership. Since 1993, Velichko has been General Director of TENMA, and since 1996 the President of FPG. As of 2011 Velichko is a member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Engineering.

Recognition In recognition of his work in developing Soviet industry during his tenure as minister of several ministries in the 1980s, Velichko was awarded two Velichko also received the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class.