Mintimer Shaimiev, Rudolf Nureyev, Rinat Akchurin - all these are the names of respected representatives of the Tatar people. However, Mintimer Sharipovich occupies a special place in this row, having established himself as the most powerful politician on a federal scale in Russia. He also headed the Tatar ASSR during the Soviet Union and later did not let go of power in the republic from his hands until 2010, after which he retired in his declining years.
RTS Engineer
The biography of Mintimer Sharipovich Shaimiev begins in 1937, when he was born into an ordinary peasant family in the village of Anyakovo, Aktanyshsky district. The unusual surname is explained by the fact that his grandfather Shaimukhamet had the nickname Shaimi.
As you can easily guess, the politician's childhood fell on the difficult military and first peaceful years. The ambitious and purposeful Mintimir was not going to sit in Anyakovo all his life and diligently studied at school in order toenroll in a city university. In 1954, Mintimer Shaimiev became a student at the Kazan Agricultural University.
Having honestly earned his diploma through years of diligent study, in 1959 he began his career at the Muslyumovskaya repair and technical station as an engineer. Soon he made good progress up the ranks and became the chief engineer of the RTS. The young specialist made a good impression on the leadership of the district with his energy and hard work, after which Mintimer Shaimiev was sent to manage the Selkhoztekhnika association in Menzelinsk.
Coming into politics
A native of Anyakovo was not going to spend his whole life in a modest position in charge of agricultural machinery. Ambitious Mintimer joins the CPSU, and in 1969 he moves to the staff work. He starts as a simple instructor in the agricultural department of the Tatar regional party committee, soon becomes the deputy head of the department.
In 1969, the future national leader becomes one of the youngest ministers in the USSR, heading the Ministry of Agriculture and Melioration of the Tatar Republic. Mintimer Shaimiev settled in this position for a long time without any special prospects for promotion, which was dictated by the unwritten rules of the hardware games of those years. The most talented administrator could not rush upwards too abruptly and wedge himself into a tight group of elderly party leaders who established a strict order of rotation for each other.
Agriculture of the native republicMintimer Sharipovich ruled until 1983, after which he was appointed first deputy head of the government of the Tatar ASSR. Two years later, he becomes the full chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic.
Struggle for power
After perestroika began, young ambitious politicians in the regions got a chance to compete for power. Mintimer Shaimiev did not stand aside, in 1989 he defeated all competitors in a tough hardware battle and became the first secretary of the Tatar regional committee of the CPSU, which actually meant leadership of the entire republic. In 1990, he was elected chairman of the Supreme Council of Tatarstan, which meant the concentration of all power in his hands.
The beginning of the nineties was the time of the parade of sovereignties in national entities. The USSR was bursting at the seams, the union republics were separated one after another from the Union, nationalist aspirations became popular in society. Being the head of the republic, Mintimer Sharipovich could not ignore these sentiments, despite the fact that he himself was not a supporter of the complete independence of Tatarstan from the center. Few people remember, but Shaimiev supported the State Emergency Committee, whose goal was to preserve the USSR as a whole.
New time
In June 1991, Mintimer Shaimiev was elected President of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the absence of other competitors for this post. After the collapse of the USSR, he became one of the most active fighters for the expansion of the rights of national entities and greater independence from the federal center.
Not wanting to separate from the Russian Federation, the head of Tataria nevertheless demanded real autonomy for his republic, called for a reduction in Moscow's control and the ability to independently manage its budget and manage the economy. This had its own truth, since until recently the orders of the central government regulated the smallest issues of the economic life of Tatarstan, any initiative had to receive the highest approval.
The result of the activities of President Mintimer Shaimiev was the declaration of state sovereignty of Tatarstan, according to which the republic acquired the status of a subject of international law and could theoretically set sail.
Sovereignty
Shaimiev was one of the most influential leaders of the national republics of the Russian Federation, so the sovereignty declared by Tatarstan has become a real time bomb for the state integrity of the Federation. Boris Yeltsin had no choice but to make concessions, and in 1994 an agreement was concluded between Tatarstan and the Russian Federation, which stipulated all controversial issues in relations between the region and the center.
This compromise turned out to be salutary, and many leaders of the national republics did the same, which made it possible to reduce the degree of tension in the country and stop the process of disintegration of the state.
Mintimer Shaimiev actually did not burn with the desire to separate from Russia, so he was pleased with the result. The republic gained a significant degree of economic independence, got the opportunity to build its own economic policy.
Regional federal politician
Under Mintimer Shaimiev, things were going well in the republic, the economy was developing quite dynamically, and the standard of living of ordinary people exceeded that in neighboring Volga regions, choking on poverty in the nineties.
It is not surprising that the first president of Tatarstan enjoyed great authority and was constantly re-elected to his post. Local residents even turned a blind eye to the fact that representatives of the Shaimiev family were gaining more and more control over the economic sphere in the republic.
However, the ambitious leader became cramped within the framework of a separate national entity, and in the late nineties he enters the federal arena. Together with another regional heavyweight, Yuri Luzhkov, in 1999 he became one of the founders of the All-Russian Fatherland-All Russia party.
The newly created bloc initially gained immense popularity and had every chance of becoming the leading faction in parliament. However, the brutal, behind-the-scenes political battle at the federal level ended with Luzhkov, Shaimiev and other founding fathers of the OVR actually capitulating to formidable rivals and agreeing to unite with another newborn creation - the Unity bloc. Thus, the United Russia party of power was born.
The surrender was honorable, Mintimer Shaimiev became co-chairman of the Supreme Council of the party and remained in this status for many years.
Retired
A native of Anyakovoled his republic for almost 21 years, if we count the Soviet period. The political biography of Mintimer Shaimiev came to an end in 2010, when he asked for his resignation from the presidency of Tatarstan.
Especially for a respected person, the position of the State Counselor of the Republic was established.
According to the status of this honorary post, the ex-president is an eternal member of the parliament of Tatarstan, has the right to introduce legislative initiatives.
Given how old Mintimer Shaimiev (80 years old) is, his activity in the field of social activity cannot but surprise. His name is associated with research work in the ancient city of Bolgar, the island of Sviyazhsk, related to the restoration of the cultural heritage of Tatarstan.
