Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov

Molotov, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich (1890–1986), Soviet diplomat and politician. Born Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Skriabin he became a Bolshevik in 1906. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 he quickly rose to power in the ruling Communist Party. He was Soviet Premier (1930–41) under Joseph Stalin. As foreign minister (1939–49 and 1953–56) he negotiated the 1939 nonaggression pact with Germany and played an important role in the USSR's wartime and postwar relations with the West. Expelled from the party central committee in 1957 for opposing Nikita Khrushchev, he held only minor posts. In 1964 he was expelled from the party itself, but he was reinstated in 1984.

See also: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.