Oleksandr Pavlovych Liashko was a Soviet Ukrainian politician. He was the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR for more than 15 years, making him the longest-serving person in that capacity. He also served in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1961 to 1989. In 1985 Liashko received the honorary award, the Hero of Socialist Labour.

Volodymyr Vasyliovych Shcherbytsky was a Ukrainian Soviet politician who served as First Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party from 1972 to 1989. A close ally of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, Shcherbytsky replaced reformist leader Petro Shelest in 1972 as part of a crackdown on the Ukrainian intelligentsia. Shcherbytsky ruled as a neo-Stalinist, overseeing Russification of Ukrainian society as well as a rapid shift to nuclear power, ultimately resulting in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Shcherbytsky was removed in 1989 amidst widespread protests against his rule, and died months later.