Alexander Shelepin | |
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Александр Шелепин | |
Chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions | |
In office 1967–1975 | |
Preceded by | Viktor Grishin |
Succeeded by | Alexey Shibaev |
Chairman of the Party and State Control Committee | |
In office 23 November 1962 – 6 December 1965 | |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Position abolished |
2nd Chairman of the Committee for State Security (KGB) | |
In office 25 December 1958 – 13 November 1961 | |
Premier | Nikita Khrushchev |
Preceded by | Ivan Serov |
Succeeded by | Vladimir Semichastny |
Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers | |
In office 23 November 1962 – 9 December 1965 | |
Premier | Alexei Kosygin |
Preceded by | Mikhail Yefremov |
Succeeded by | Zia Nureyev |
First Secretary of the Komsomol | |
In office 30 October 1952 – 28 March 1958 | |
Preceded by | Nikolai Mikhailov |
Succeeded by | Vladimir Semichastny |
Full member of the 22nd, 23rd, 24th Politburo | |
In office 16 November 1964 – 16 April 1975 | |
Member of the 22nd, 23rd Secretariat | |
In office 31 October 1961 – 26 September 1967 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Alexander Nikolayevich Shelepin 18 August 1918 Voronezh, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic |
Died | 24 October 1994 Moscow, Russia | (aged 76)
Citizenship | Soviet (until 1991) and Russian |
Political party | Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1940–1984) |
Alma mater | Moscow State University (1941) |
Signature | |
Alexander Nikolayevich Shelepin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Шеле́пин; 18 August 1918 – 24 October 1994) was a Soviet politician and intelligence officer. A long-time member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he served as First Deputy Prime Minister, as a full member of the Politburo and as the chairman of the KGB from December 1958 to November 1961. He continued to maintain decisive influence in the KGB until 1967; his successor as chairman of the KGB, Vladimir Semichastny, was his client and protégé.[1]
Intelligent, ambitious, and well-educated,[2][1] Shelepin was the leader of a hard-line faction within the Communist Party that played a decisive role in overthrowing Nikita Khrushchev in 1964. Opposed to the policy of détente, he was eventually outmaneuvered by Leonid Brezhnev and gradually stripped of his power, thus failing in his ambition to lead the Soviet Union.