The biography of Yuri Brezhnev, unlike his sister Galina, is not known to many. The son of the General Secretary of the Communist Party, he lived a long, happy life, made a good career and did not tarnish his father's name in any way.
Childhood and youth
Yuri was born in 1933 in the city of Kamenskoye in the Dnepropetrovsk region. His father Leonid Ilyich, the future leader of the country's communists, at that moment worked as a mechanic at a metallurgical plant and at the same time studied at a university. Mother Victoria Petrovna graduated from a medical school.
The boy grew up active and sociable, he had no shortage of friends. With the outbreak of the war, the family was evacuated to Kazakhstan. Returning to his hometown, Yura decided to continue the family working dynasty and applied to the Institute of Metallurgy. Studying was easy for him, he was considered one of the best on the course.
Work in Sweden
Five years later, the young man received his second education at the Academy of Foreign Trade. The father approved the line of the son. Yuri Leonidovich was sent to Sweden as an employee of the sales office. In Stockholm, he came to the attention of Western intelligence services. They devised an entire operation called the "honey trap", which was supposed to compromise the Soviet employee. The plan failed miserably, but had to return to Moscow.
Career
Yuri Leonidovich worked hard. The echoes of his father's glory rarely reached him. Prior to his foreign trip, he held the position of plant manager in Dnepropetrovsk. After returning, he began his career at the Ministry of Foreign Trade, became the head of the association. In 1979, he was entrusted with the post of first deputy minister. As a communist with many years of experience, Brezhnev completed his party career as a candidate for membership in the Central Committee, was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet. The unexpected death of his father was not only a personal tragedy, but also put a fat point on his further career advancement.
After 1982
Brezhnev was very upset about the death of a loved one. The new government began to actively criticize the activities of its predecessor. The man tried to look for consolation in alcohol. Soon he was retired with the wording "for health reasons." Yuri Leonidovich avoided talking to the press and refused television interviews. He maintained relations only with his friends at the Foreign Trade Academy. He often turned to the works of Ilf and Petrov, quoted his favorite "12 chairs".
Brezhnev devoted all his free time to breeding aquarium fish. A huge aquarium occupied an entire wall in his apartment. He himself went to the Bird Market, bought food and everything he needed. The second big hobby was the collection of porcelain dogs, which he collected for many years.
Personal life
There was one marriage in Brezhnev's life. Even in his youth, he met a charming, snub-nosed blonde, Lyudmila, a student of the philological department of the pedagogical institute. Their love story ended in a family union. The parents approved of the son's choice. The daughter-in-law, at the insistence of new relatives, called them "dad" and "mom". Soon, the couple had their first-born Leonid, named after his grandfather, the second child was a son, Andrei. Children received a decent education and achieved certain success in life. Lenya became a chemist-technologist, Economist Andrey devoted himself to politics.
Recently, Yuri Leonidovich was seriously ill. There were kidney problems, and then a tumor in the parietal region of the brain. He spent a lot of time at the Crimean dacha, surrounded by loved ones. The death of his wife undermined his already frail health. Life without Lyudmila turned out to be too difficult, for many years this modest woman was his loyal friend. He survived his wife by only six months and left after her in 2013.
