Mikhail Gorbachev from the area around Chernobyl. Taubman noted that the disaster marked "a turning point for Gorbachev and the Soviet regime". Gorbachev later described the incident as one which made him appreciate the scale of incompetence and cover-ups in the Soviet Union. From April to the end of the year, Gorbachev became increasingly open in his criticism of the Soviet system, including food production, state bureaucracy, the military draft, and the large size of the prison population. Gorbachev's primary goal as general secretary was to revive the Soviet economy after the stagnant Brezhnev years. In 1985, he announced that the economy
Premier of the Soviet Union USSR. However, Kosygin's prestige was weakened when he proposed the economic reform of 1965. Under the 1977 Soviet Constitution, the Premier of the Council of Ministers was the head of government of the USSR. The Premier was the chief of the executive branch and head of the Soviet government as a whole, the premiership was the most powerful governmental office in the USSR by influence and recognition until the establishment of the presidency during 1990. The Premier was responsible and accountable to the Supreme Soviet and during the period between sessions of the Supreme Soviet he was also accountable to