First chairman of People's Control, Shelepin's deputy who became Brezhnev's auditor
When Brezhnev split the Party-State Control Committee in 1965, Shelepin lost his chairmanship — but his own deputy Kovanov was named chairman of the new People's Control Committee, a classic Brezhnev-era maneuver: promote the rival's lieutenant to neutralize the general.
A product of the party apparatus, he rose through the Agitprop department to become Second Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party, then served as Alexander Shelepin's deputy at the Party-State Control Committee. When Brezhnev split the control apparatus in 1965 to curb Shelepin's ambitions, Kovanov was named chairman of the new USSR People's Control Committee, a post he held until 1971. His tenure coincided with the early Brezhnev-era transformation of the control organs into a mass-participation body with millions of volunteer inspectors auditing government and enterprise performance. Earlier he had been a rural teacher, collective farm chairman, and war correspondent on three fronts; after retirement he served as scientific advisor to an oil and gas construction research institute.
Career Timeline
- 1930–1941Teacher, collective farm chairman, director of pedagogical laboratories and institutes under Narkompros RSFSR
- 1941–1942Head of Primary and Secondary Schools Administration, Narkompros RSFSR
- 1942–1944War correspondent on the Kalinin, North Caucasus, and 2nd Ukrainian fronts
- 1944–1956Instructor, sector head, and deputy department head in Agitprop, CC VKP(b)/CPSU
- 1956–1962Second Secretary, Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia
- 1962–1965Deputy Chairman, Party-State Control Committee (under Shelepin)
- 1965–1971Chairman, USSR People's Control Committee
- 1971–1986Retired; scientific advisor at a research institute under the Ministry of Construction of Oil and Gas Industry