From Izvestia editor to Soviet of the Union chairman: a Brezhnev-era media mandarin who became the face of the supreme legislature
When Andropov took power after Brezhnev's death, Tolkunov — who had once worked alongside him in the Central Committee — asked to return to newspaper work. Andropov offered him Pravda; Tolkunov chose Izvestia instead.
A Soviet journalist and state leader born into a railway worker's family who began as a Pravda reporter in 1938. During World War II he served as a war correspondent across multiple fronts, and from the early 1960s worked in the CPSU Central Committee's department for relations with socialist countries, managing the party's external propaganda line. Appointed editor-in-chief of Izvestia in 1965, he led the paper for 11 years before being transferred to head the Novosti Press Agency in 1976, then returned to Izvestia in 1983 when his old CC colleague Andropov came to power. Elected Chairman of the Soviet of the Union in 1984, he served until 1988 as the institutional head of the USSR's supreme legislative body.
Career Timeline
- 1938–1939Reporter, Pravda information dept → literary contributor, assistant to editor-in-chief
- 1941–1944War correspondent (Kalinin, Northwestern, Bryansk, 4th Ukrainian, 2nd Belorussian fronts)
- 1946–1947, 1951–1957Pravda staff
- 1957–1965CPSU CC apparatus → deputy, first deputy head, Dept for Relations with Communist and Workers' Parties of Socialist Countries
- 1965–1976Editor-in-chief, Izvestia
- 1976–1983Chairman of the Board, Novosti Press Agency (APN)
- 1983–1984Editor-in-chief, Izvestia (second term)
- 1984–1988Chairman of the Soviet of the Union, Supreme Soviet of the USSR