Geydar Aliyev (1983: Doomsday)

Geydar Alirza oglu Aliyev (Azerbaijani: Heydər Əlirza oğlu Əliyev, Russian: Гейдар Алиевич Алиев; May 10, 1923 – December 12, 2003), also spelled as Heidar Aliev, Geidar Aliev, Haydar Aliyev, Heydar Aliyev was the leader of the Union of Sovereign Socialist Republics from early 1984 to February 2000, when his long time friend Aman Tuleyev succeeded him. From 1969 till 1982, Aliyev was also the leader of Soviet Azerbaijan, practically dominating the political life of Azerbaijan for over 10 years. He was married to Zarifa Aliyeva, who died during Doomsday, as well as his son and daughter.

Late years career in the Soviet era
As head of the KGB's branch in Azerbaijan, he ran an anti-corruption campaign masked to purge his opponents. Following the purge, Aliyev soon became the undisputed leader of Azerbaijan. During this time, Heydar Aliyev was enriched and venerated by developing prominent ties with the Azeri mafia. Aliyev, with the help of the Azeri mafia, earned the profits from the Caspian Sea caviar, Sumgait oil, fruits and vegetables, cotton and customs and transport industries of Azerbaijan. In order to remain as undisputed leader of Azerbaijan, Geydar Aliyev paid bribes to Brezhnev in the form of gifts such as a "Sun-king" diamond ring that was worth up to 226,000 roubles. When two Moscow prosecutors investigated the Azeri mafia, one was tried and expelled from the Communist party and the other was convicted and shot. He also became a candidate (non-voting) member of the Soviet Politburo in 1976. He occupied this position until December 1982 when Yuri Andropov promoted him to the post of first Deputy Prime Minister of the Soviet Union. The promotion came after a sum of 4 million roubles in bribes, at the cost of the Azeri mafia.

Doomsday
At the time news hit of an impending U.S. nuclear attack, high ranking Soviet officials were quickly located and sent to secure bunkers closest to their current location. Aliyev managed to survive in one of these shelters and after three weeks of waiting, the bunker was given the all clear signal. As he was the highest ranking official in the bunker, he took control of the group of survivors and commanded that contact be established with Andropov and other high ranking party members. Receiving no reply, the group decided to spend the winter inside the bunker and attempt to receive any message from the rest of the country.

Post-Doomsday
After a couple of months, the group had lost hope, but Aliyev was firm in his belief that some part of the Soviet Union survived the mayhem. Faint radio signals were heard from the east of the country and Aliyev persuaded the people to follow him to the source of the signals. In late January the group left their shelter and as they went through the country all they discovered was carnage and destruction. Geydar was appalled by the situation, but could do nothing. In March, 1984, the rag-tag group reached the western borders of Siberia.

Years in office
The people in Siberia had survived the brunt of the nuclear war and were pleased to have such an important member of Andropov's inner circle still alive. Geydar was unanimously declared the leader of the part and the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet. He quickly started to organize rebuilding efforts and enacted laws to help the civilian population survive. Even though he did his best, many people died not from radiation, but from malnutrition and the sever cold. The events of the early years would continue to haunt him in the years to come. In December of 1984, he decided to change the name of the Union, trying to make it more in-touch with the current situation. He renamed it to the Union of Sovereign Socialist Republics.

Contact with the outside world
Contact with Mongolia and the newly founded Third East Turkestan Republic, and the mutual assistance through the first years and Aliyev's diplomatic skills persuaded the two countries to sign the "Mutual-Defence and Economic Cooperation Treaty" in 1987,and they later joined the Union in 1989 after a referendum in their respective countries.Contact with Alaska, however, was not so well received. Since early on, Aliyev wanted to help the people of Alaska who had been left to their own devices after they lost contact with the American government. However, time and time again, the Alaskans refused help. Geydar had left them alone, offering help once and a while. In 1987, things got worse when the American Provisional Government showed up, along with their ANZUS partners. There was an almost immediate return to hostilities and fighting continued for a couple of months, until after some intensive negotiating the two sides reached a peace agreement, the Sitka Accord. Ever since then Aliyev was firm in international relations but remained open-minded when it came to improving the international standing of the USSR. He also made the difficult decision of invading Manchuria to stabilize the region and stop the raiding parties which originated from the region.

Socialists of the world,unite!
Throughout the 90's, Geydar had hoped there were other surviving communist regimes around the globe and was pleased to find that Cuba had fared the nuclear war relatively well and ever since reestablishing contact in 1997, Cuba and its leadership had been a steadfast ally of Aliyev's regime. They helped Nicaragua try and pacify their country and to this day men and material are sent to aid the Nicaraguans in eradicating guerrilla groups which are thought to have been funded by the ANZC. However, on the domestic front, things did not look as well.

Domestic issues
Domestically, the people had begun to despise the Siberian leadership and its heavy-handed tactics regarding civil liberties. Protests had begun to take place all around the USSR in the late 90's and Geydar, worried by the situation and his failing health, decided to step down and appointed Tuleyev as his successor.

Later years
From early 2000 to his death, Aliyev decided to retire from politics and lived in an apartment building in Krasnoyarsk, focusing on his autobiography. His health began to worsen and he had several surgeries to help him, but his health kept deteriorating.

Death and successor
Aliyev's health began to fail in 1999, when he had a major heart bypass. He later had prostate surgery and a hernia operation. He suffered a collapse while giving a speech on live television in April 1999. He stood down from the presidency at the start of February 2000. On December 12, 2003, President Heydar Aliyev died in the Krasnoyarsk General Hospital, succeeded by his most closest ally, Aman Tuleyev.