Anastas Mikoyan

Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (English: /miːkoʊˈjɑːn/; Russian: Анаста́с Ива́нович Микоя́н; Armenian: Անաստաս Հովհաննեսի Միկոյան; 25 November 1895 – 21 October 1978) was an Armenian Communist revolutionary, Old Bolshevik and Soviet statesman. He was the only Soviet politician who managed to remain at the highest levels of power within the Communist Party while that power oscillated between the Central Committee and the Politburo. His career extended from the days of Lenin, to the eras of Stalin and Khrushchev, to his peaceful retirement under Brezhnev. An early convert to the Bolshevik cause, Mikoyan participated in the Baku Commune under the leadership of Stepan Shahumyan during the Russian Civil War in the Caucasus. In the 1920s, he served as the First Secretary of the North Caucasus region. During Stalin's rule, Mikoyan held several high governmental posts, including that of Minister of Foreign Trade. However, by the 1940s, Mikoyan began to lose favour with Stalin. In 1949, he lost his...