Editing History of Russia (section)

===De-Stalinization and the era of stagnation===
{{Main|Khrushchev Thaw|History of the Soviet Union (1953–1964)|History of the Soviet Union (1964–1982)|Era of Stagnation}}
[[Nikita Khrushchev]] solidified his position in a speech before the [[20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party]] in 1956 detailing Stalin's atrocities.<ref name="CNN Khrushchev">{{cite news|publisher=CNN|url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/khrushchev/|title=Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev|access-date=22 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613043811/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/khrushchev/|archive-date=13 June 2008}}</ref>
[[File:Carter Brezhnev sign SALT II.jpg|thumb|right|President [[Jimmy Carter]] and Soviet General Secretary [[Leonid Brezhnev]] sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II) treaty, 18 June 1979.]]
In 1964, Khrushchev was [[Impeachment|impeached]] by the Communist Party's Central Committee, charging him with a host of errors that included Soviet setbacks such as the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]].<ref name="CNN Khrushchev" /> After a period of [[collective leadership]] led by [[Leonid Brezhnev]], [[Alexei Kosygin]] and [[Nikolai Podgorny]], Brezhnev took Khrushchev's place as [[Soviet leader]].<ref>{{cite news|publisher=CNN|url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/brezhnev/|title=Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev|access-date=22 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613043927/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/brezhnev/|archive-date=13 June 2008}}</ref> Brezhnev emphasized heavy industry,<ref name="History Guide Brezhnev">{{cite web|url=http://www.historyguide.org/europe/brezhnev.html|title=Leonid Brezhnev, 1906–1982|work=The History Guide|access-date=22 July 2007|quote=During the 1970s Brezhnev attempted to normalize relations between [[West Germany]] and the [[Warsaw Pact]] and to ease tensions with the United States through the policy known as détente. At the same time, he saw to it that the Soviet Union's military-industrial complex was greatly expanded and modernized.", "After his death, he was criticized for a gradual slide in living standards, the spread of corruption and cronyism within the Soviet [[bureaucracy]], and the generally [[Era of Stagnation|stagnant and dispiriting character of Soviet life]] in the late 1970s and early '80s.|archive-date=13 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913002304/http://www.historyguide.org/europe/brezhnev.html|url-status=live}}</ref> instituted the [[Soviet economic reform of 1965]],<ref name=Duke>{{cite web|title=Soviet and Post-Soviet Economic Structure And Performance|url=http://econ.duke.edu/pub/treml/brezhnev.293|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121210193915/http://econ.duke.edu/pub/treml/brezhnev.293|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 December 2012|publisher=HArper Collins}}</ref> and also attempted to ease relationships with the United States.<ref name="History Guide Brezhnev" /> Soviet science and industry peaked in the Khrushchev and Brezhnev years. The world's first [[nuclear power plant]] was established in 1954 [[Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant|in Obninsk]], and the [[Baikal Amur Mainline]] was built. In the 1950s the USSR became a leading producer and exporter of petroleum and natural gas.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Ermolaev |first1=Sergei |title=The Formation and Evolution of the Soviet Union's Oil and Gas Dependence |url=https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2017/03/the-formation-and-evolution-of-the-soviet-unions-oil-and-gas-dependence?lang=en |access-date=4 October 2022 |website=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |language=en |archive-date=4 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004095240/https://carnegieendowment.org/2017/03/29/formation-and-evolution-of-soviet-union-s-oil-and-gas-dependence-pub-68443 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1980 Moscow hosted the [[1980 Summer Olympics|Summer Olympic Games]].

While all modernized economies were rapidly moving to computerization after 1965, the USSR fell behind. Moscow's decision to copy the IBM 360 of 1965 proved a decisive mistake for it locked scientists into an antiquated system they were unable to improve. They had enormous difficulties in manufacturing the necessary chips reliably and in quantity, in programming workable and efficient programs, in coordinating entirely separate operations, and in providing support to computer users.<ref>James W. Cortada, "Public Policies and the Development of National Computer Industries in Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, 1940—80." ''Journal of Contemporary History'' (2009) 44#3 pp. 493–512, especially pp. 509-510.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |jstor = 30036313|title = Computers and the Cold War: United States Restrictions on the Export of Computers to the Soviet Union and Communist China|journal = Journal of Contemporary History|volume = 40|issue = 1|pages = 131–147|last1 = Cain|first1 = Frank|year = 2005|doi = 10.1177/0022009405049270|s2cid = 154809517}}</ref>

One of the greatest strengths of Soviet economy was its vast supplies of oil and gas; world oil prices quadrupled in 1973–1974, and rose again in 1979–1981, making the energy sector the chief driver of the Soviet economy, and was used to cover multiple weaknesses. At one point, Soviet Premier [[Alexei Kosygin]] told the head of oil and gas production, "things are bad with bread. Give me 3 million tons [of oil] over the plan."<ref>Yergin, ''The Quest'' (2011) p. 23</ref> Former prime minister [[Yegor Gaidar]], an economist looking back three decades, in 2007 wrote:
{{blockquote|The hard currency from oil exports stopped the growing food supply crisis, increased the import of equipment and consumer goods, ensured a financial base for the arms race and the achievement of nuclear parity with the United States, and permitted the realization of such risky foreign-policy actions as the war in Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite book|author=Yegor Gaidar|title=Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bDSfnxYjVwAC&pg=PA102|date=2007|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|page=102|isbn=978-0815731153|access-date=25 October 2015|archive-date=20 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020195744/https://books.google.com/books?id=bDSfnxYjVwAC&pg=PA102#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>}}