Dissolution of the Soviet Union Central Committee Secretariat. In the fall of 1985, Gorbachev continued to bring younger and more energetic men into government. On September 27, 55-year-old Nikolai Ryzhkov replaced 79-year-old Nikolai Tikhonov as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, effectively the Soviet prime minister, and on October 14, Nikolai Talyzin replaced Nikolai Baibakov as chairman of the State Planning Committee (GOSPLAN). At the next Central Committee meeting on October 15, Tikhonov retired from the Politburo and Talyzin became a candidate. On December 23, 1985, Gorbachev appointed Yeltsin First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party replacing Viktor Grishin. Gorbachev continued to press for greater
Khomeini's letter to Mikhail Gorbachev a lack of belief in spirituality the prime affliction of the human society in the East and the west alike." Khomeini warned Gorbachev "against falling into the arms of Western capitalism." After hearing the text of the letter, Gorbachev thanked Ruhollah Khomeini for the letter and said: "I'll send an answer to this letter as soon as possible" and added "we'll deliver [Khomeini's letter] to the Soviet clergymen". Referring to Khomeini's invitation to Islam, he said: "we are approving the law of religious freedom in the Soviet Union, I have claimed before that despite having different ideologies we can have