1980. The death of Peter Masherov

35 years ago, on October 4, 1980, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus Peter Mironovich Masherov died on the Minsk-Moscow highway as a result of a collision of his "Seagulls" with a GAZ-53 dump truck loaded with potatoes. The rumor claimed that this was a planned attempt: Masherov was considered as one of the possible successors of Brezhnev and could be eliminated by other applicants for the throne. However, the investigation proved that with the right actions, the driver of Masherov could avoid a clash, and considered the version of the attempt of the insolvent. Gas driver Nikolai Pustovit was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but after 5 years he was released.