The 20-year formal head of state of the Russian republic under Brezhnev
"He had the firm administrative hand of an authoritative man and knew construction better than anyone." — Contemporary assessment
Mikhail Yasnov rose from leather worker and courier to the formal head of state of the Russian SFSR for nearly two decades. As Moscow City Executive Committee chairman (1950–1956), he directed the second reconstruction of the capital: completing the Stalinist high-rises, launching mass housing in the southwest, opening the metro ring line, and doubling residential construction. He served briefly as RSFSR premier (1956–1957), then spent nineteen years as Chairman of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet Presidium (1966–1985), the republic's ceremonial head of state throughout the Brezhnev era. A construction engineer who had directed Moscow's defensive fortifications during the Battle of Moscow, he was remembered by contemporaries as harsh but effective.
Career Timeline
- 1918–1922Courier, People's Commissariat of Health RSFSR
- 1922–1928Leather factory worker
- 1925Graduated workers' faculty, Moscow State University; joined CPSU
- 1928–1930Military service, Red Army
- 1930–1938Managerial posts in Moscow construction trusts
- 1938–1949Deputy/First Deputy Chairman, Moscow City Executive Committee; directed defensive construction during Battle of Moscow
- 1949–1950Deputy Minister of Urban Construction, USSR
- 1950–1956Chairman, Moscow City Executive Committee; simultaneously Chairman of the Soviet of the Union (1950–1954)
- 1956–1957Chairman, Council of Ministers of the RSFSR
- 1957–1966First Deputy Chairman, Council of Ministers of the RSFSR
- 1966–1985Chairman, Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (republican head of state)
- 1976Awarded Hero of Socialist Labor