Anastas Mikoyan

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Ivanovich and the family name is Mikoyan.
Anastas Mikoyan
Анастас Микоян
Անաստաս Միկոյան
Chairman of the Presidium of the
Supreme Soviet
In office
15 July 1964 – 9 December 1965
Preceded byLeonid Brezhnev
Succeeded byNikolai Podgorny
First Deputy Chairman of the
Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union
In office
28 February 1955 – 15 July 1964
PremierNikolai Bulganin
Nikita Khrushchev
Preceded byNikolai Bulganin
Succeeded byAlexei Kosygin
Additional positions
Deputy Chairman of the
Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union
In office
27 April 1954 – 28 February 1955
PremierGeorgy Malenkov
In office
19 March 1946 – 5 March 1953
PremierJoseph Stalin
Minister of Foreign Trade
In office
15 March 1946 – 4 March 1949
PremierVyacheslav Molotov
Joseph Stalin
Preceded byHimself (as People's Commissar for Foreign Trade)
Succeeded byEvgeny Chvyalev [ru]
In office
24 August 1953 – 22 January 1955
PremierGeorgy Malenkov
Preceded byDmitry Pavlov [ru]
Succeeded byBasil Lark
Personal details
Born
Anastas Ovaneysovich Mikoyan

(1895-11-25)25 November 1895
Sanahin, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire
Died21 October 1978(1978-10-21) (aged 82)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Resting placeNovodevichy Cemetery, Moscow
CitizenshipSoviet
NationalityArmenian
Political partyCPSU (1918–1966)
Other political
affiliations		RSDLP (Bolsheviks) (1915–1918)
Spouse
Ashkhen Tumanyan
​
​
(m. 1920; died 1962)​
Children5 (Stepan, Vladimir, Aleksei, Vano, and Sergo)
OccupationCivil servant, statesman
Signature
Central institution membership
Other offices held
  • 1938–45: People's Commissar for Foreign Trade
  • 1934–38: People's Commissar for Food
  • 1930–34: People's Commissar of Supplies
  • 1926–30: People's Commissar for Trade

Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (/ˌmiːkoʊˈjɑːn/; Russian: Анастас Иванович Микоян, IPA: [ɐnɐsˈtas ɨˈvanəvʲɪtɕ mʲɪkɐˈjan]; Armenian: Անաստաս Հովհաննեսի Միկոյան, romanized: Anastas Hovhannesi Mikoyan; 25 November [O.S. 13 November] 1895 – 21 October 1978) was a Soviet politician and Bolshevik revolutionary who served as the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the head of state of the Soviet Union. A member of the Communist Party's Central Committee from 1923 to 1976, he was the only Soviet figure who managed to remain at the highest levels of power from the days of Lenin, through the eras of Stalin and Khrushchev, to his retirement under Brezhnev. His legacy is that of a survivor, often described with the famous quote “from Ilyich [Vladimir Ilyich Lenin] to Ilyich [Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev] without a heart attack or paralysis".[1]

An ethnic Armenian, Mikoyan joined the Bolsheviks in 1915, and following the October Revolution of 1917 participated in the Baku Commune. In the 1920s, he was the party's boss in the North Caucasus. Mikoyan was elected to the Politburo in 1935, served as foreign trade minister from 1926 to 1930 and again from 1938, and during World War II became a member of the State Defense Committee. After the war, Mikoyan began to lose favour, losing his position as minister in 1949 and being criticized by Stalin at the 19th Party Congress in 1952. Following Stalin's death in 1953, Mikoyan sided with Khrushchev in the power struggle, supported him against a failed coup in 1957, and took a leading role in crafting his de-Stalinization policy.

Under Khrushchev, Mikoyan played an important role in Soviet foreign policy, making several key trips to the United States and communist Cuba. He acquired an important stature on the international diplomatic scene, especially with his skill in exercising soft power to further Soviet interests. In 1964, Khrushchev was forced to step down in a coup that brought Brezhnev to power. Mikoyan briefly served as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the nominal head of state, from 1964 until his forced retirement in 1965.

  1. ^ "National Security Archive".