«Сальвадор» — «Вьетнам» по Испанский
1964-1981: Л. И. Брежнев
1981-1985: Д. Ф. Устинов
1985-1987: А. А. Громыко
1987-1988: Н. И. Рыжков
1988-1988: disputed
1988-1990: Б. К. Пуго
1990-: Г. А. Алиев
A modern Soviet historian might conclude that American President Henry M. Jackson's decision to commit servicemen to fighting leftist rebels in the tiny Central American nation of El Salvador saved the Soviet Union. This is in keeping with what we might judge; however, that historian would make that conclusion for different reasons.
A bellicose American foreign policy revitalized the Soviet hardline position that cooperation with the West was undesirable and substantively impossible, the story goes. As Brezhnev's gerontocratic government proceeded in its monotonous way, events overseas gave the ideologues fresh energy, and to a lesser extent discredited those painted as pro-Western. If fears that Afghanistan would become another quagmire occupied the upper echelons of the government, at least giving the new government a freer hand seemed to work out reasonably well, and the arrival of an "Islamic socialist" government in Iran (in actual fact, a shaky coalition of Islamists and socialists) made the "friendship of nations" look more and more viable and Soviet foreign policy look more and more successful. As Leonid Brezhnev made his slow journey, first in mind and then in body, to the Kremlin Wall Necropolis, the two leading candidates to succeed him, and two of the unofficial troika who led the government (Andropov's star had fallen significantly after a badly botched attempt to crack down on corruption threatened patronage networks in many of the outlying republics), were hatching a deal.
After Brezhnev's death in 1981, Dmitriy Ustinov - the hero of Soviet industry during the Great Patriotic War, then the "Uncle Mitya" of its defense industry - was quickly elected to succeed him. Ustinov was barely younger than Brezhnev, but far more vigorous. Sometimes called the "Last Stalinist", Ustinov is best known for his determination to compete with the West and his efforts to modernize Soviet industry to do it, including new investments in computer technology both to improve the quality of central planning decisions and to compete with the West and East alike. As newly-elected American President Bob Dole inveighed against "Democrat wars" and sought a new détente, Ustinov sought (with some success) to bring the Iron Curtain westward and retrench the Soviet puppets in the East and Global South.
Nothing lasts forever, and Dmitriy Ustinov had already passed his threescore and ten when he ascended to leadership. His right-hand man, Andrey Gromyko, "Grim Grom" to Westerners who remembered his tenure at the UN, took the helm. Gromyko's skepticism of the West led him to draw inward from Ustinov's moderate internationalism, and his lack of vision led to fears of a return to governmental stagnation. Still, his replacement by reformist Nikolay Ryzhkov was hardly a universal source of happiness. Indeed, fears that Ryzhkov's ever-closer relationship with the capitalist West foretold market infiltration led to a shocking power struggle that led to shockwaves around the world. Behind the scenes, a whirlwind of power struggles governed the Soviet Union with Pugo as its nominal leader.
In the final accounting, Boris Pugo may have saved the Soviet system, but he was not a strong enough figure to rationalize it, nor did he have any real ideas on what to do with it. Many hope that Heydar Aliyev's "Polite Coup" will restore that vitality and sense of purpose, but many others fear that he will be just another strongman. Only time will tell.