MOSCOW -- The Soviet Union has replaced the 73-year-old minister in charge of the troubled coal industry, the Communist Party newspaper Pravda said today.
Boris Bratchenko, who had been appointed in 1965 by former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, was replaced by Mikhail Shchadov, 58, the newspaper said.
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Both the coal and oil industries have been falling short of official production targets, creating problems throughout the economy.
Bratchenko was 'retired for health reasons,' the official Tass news agency said. But he appeared to be the latest victim of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's purge of old ministers left over from previous regimes.
