Vaino Väljas

Who is Vaino Väljas?

Vaino Väljas is a former Soviet politician. He was the Chairman of the 6th Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR from 18 April 1963 to 19 March 1967, first secretary of communist party of Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic from 16 June 1988 to April 1990 and chairman of the party from April 1990 to August 1991.

Since Väljas was considered to have Estonian nationalist inclinations, he was removed from Estonia and appointed as the Soviet ambassador to Venezuela in 1980 and Nicaragua in 1986. As the Estonian independence movement gained momentum in 1988, the relatively liberal Väljas was recalled from Nicaragua and was appointed by Gorbachev as leader of the Estonian Communist Party. The Communist party lost its monopoly of power in February 1990.

Väljas was the leader of the former Communist party, renamed the Democratic Estonian Workers Party, until 1995.