| Biography: |
| Attended Rybinsk college of water transportation (1932-1936); studied history and philology in the Karelo-Finnish State University; was an activist of the All-Union Lenin's Communist League of Youth (komsomol); worked in Jaroslavl' oblast' committee of the All-Union Lenin's Communist League of Youth (1937-1939); joined the All-Union Communist Party (of Bolsheviks) in 1939; first secretary of Jaroslavl' oblast' committee of the All-Union Lenin's Communist League of Youth (1939-1940); first secretary of the Central Committee of the Lenin's Communist League of Youth of Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (1940-1944); second secretary of Petrozavodsk municipal committee of the Communist Party (of Bolsheviks) of Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (1944-1947); second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (of Bolsheviks) of Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (1947-1951); in 1951 he was moved to Moscow, where he was assigned to the party's Central Committee staff; entered diplomatic service as counsellor of Soviet embassy in Hungary (1953-1954); served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR to Hungary (14 Jul 1954 - 8 Mar 1957); returned to Moscow to become the chief of CPSU Central Committee's Department for Affairs of Communist and Workers' Parties of Socialist Countries (1957-1967); was elected a member (31 Oct 1961 - 9 Feb 1984) of the CPSU Central Committee at the Twenty-First party Congress; secretary of CPSU Central Committee (23 Nov 1962 - 21 Jun 1967); served as Chairman of the Committee for State Security (18 May 1967 - 26 May 1982) and joined the Politburo of CPSU Central Committee as a candidate member (21 Jun 1967 - 27 Apr 1973); was elevated to full membership in the Politburo (27 Apr 1973 - 9 Feb 1984); supervised suppression of political dissidents in the 1970s; elected again secretary of CPSU Central Committee (24 May 1982 - 12 Nov 1982) and resigned the office of chairman in the Committee for State Security; after the death of Leonid Brežnev, he mastered sufficient support to overcome the resistance of Brežnev's aides and was elected secretary general of CPSU Central Committee (12 Nov 1982 - 9 Feb 1984); elected Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet (16 Jun 1983 - 9 Feb 1984); during his tenure as principal leader of Soviet state, he attempted to reform the country by imposing strict discipline on state officials and employees; died on 9 Feb 1984. |
| Biographical sources: Государственная власть СССР. Высшие органы власти и управления и их руководители. 1923-1991 гг. Историко-биографический справочник / Сост. В.И.Ивкин. М.: РОССПЭН, 1999, p. 200. |
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| [1] |
Ведомости Верховного Совета СССР, 1983, № 25, Ст. 376. |
| [2] |
Правда, 1984, 10 февраля. |
