Valentin Pavlov | |
|---|---|
Валентин Павлов | |
 Pavlov in 1991 | |
| Prime Minister of the Soviet Union | |
| In office 14 January 1991 – 28 August 1991[1] | |
| President | Mikhail Gorbachev |
| Deputy | |
| Preceded by | Nikolai Ryzhkov |
| Succeeded by | Ivan Silayev |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 17 July 1989 – 26 December 1990 | |
| Preceded by | Boris Gostev |
| Succeeded by | Vladimir Yefimovich Orlov |
| Chairman of the State Committee on Prices | |
| In office 15 August 1986 – 7 June 1989 | |
| Preceded by | Nikolai Glushkov |
| Succeeded by | Vyacheslav Senchagov |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 26 September 1937 Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Died | 30 March 2003 (aged 65) Moscow, Russia |
| Resting place | Pyatnitskoye Cemetery |
| Nationality | Soviet and Russian |
| Political party | Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1962–1991) |
| Alma mater | Moscow Finance Institute |
Valentin Sergeyevich Pavlov (Russian: Валéнтин Серге́евич Па́влов; 26 September 1937 – 30 March 2003) was a Soviet official who became a Russian banker following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Born in the city of Moscow, then part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Pavlov began his political career in the Ministry of Finance in 1959. Later, during the Brezhnev Era, he became head of the Financial Department of the State Planning Committee. Pavlov was appointed to the post of Chairman of the State Committee on Prices during the Gorbachev Era, and later became Minister of Finance in Nikolai Ryzhkov's second government. He went on to succeed Ryzhkov as head of government in the newly established post of Prime Minister of the Soviet Union.
As Prime Minister Pavlov initiated the 1991 Soviet monetary reform, commonly referred to as the Pavlov reform, in early 1991. Early on he told the media that the reform was initiated to halt the flow of Soviet rubles transported to the Soviet Union from abroad. Although ridiculed at the time, the statement was later proven to be true. In June the same year, Pavlov called for a transfer of power from the President of the Soviet Union to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers. When that failed, he joined a plot to oust Gorbachev. In August, he participated in the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, which tried to prevent the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Pavlov was arrested for his involvement in the coup and went on to work in the banking sector in post-Soviet Russia. He can be seen as the last legitimate Soviet head of government since his successor, Ivan Silayev, was appointed by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in breach of what were the Soviet constitutional principles.