mikoyan
first day in havana, young sergo mikoyan is in the center of the photo. courtesy of sergo mikoyan .
the soviet cuban missile crisis: castro, mikoyan, kennedy, khrushchev, and the missiles of november by sergo mikoyan, ed. svetlana savranskaya
stepan mikoyan was born on july 12, 1922 in tbilisi (georgia) into the family of soviet state figure and future socialist labor hero anastas mikoyan. stepan’s father was a brother of renowned soviet aircraft designer artyom mikoyan. anastas mikoyan headed the ussr supreme soviet presidium in 1964 - 1965 .
in 1964 mikoyan once again walked the fine line between changing powers. a new election promoted mikoyan to chairman of the ussr supreme soviet – he became the president of the country
anastas mikoyan, joseph stalin and grigoriy ordzhonikidze, tiflis (now tbilisi), 1925 .
wireless mikoyan foxbat - iii ironsight - 7 6 - button 2. 4ghz wireless gaming mouse
) from the personal archive of the late sergo mikoyan. this is the second installment from the
with the headline: others come and go —mikoyan remains; how to survive in the kremlin .
needless to say, many consumers all over the ussr liked mikoyan’s innovations. even stalin once joked ,
document 12 – mikoyan telegram to khrushchev, november 18, 1962, [ source: personal archive of sergo mikoyan donated to the national security archive. translated by amanda conrad for the national security archive ]
it is known that mikoyan differed with khrushchev at times. khrushchev said so in one of his speeches when he chided mikoyan for not sharing his enthusiasm about plowing up the virgin lands of central asia .
sergo mikoyan, edited by svetlana savranskaya, the soviet cuban missile crisis: castro, mikoyan, kennedy, khrushchev, and the missiles of november (washington, dc: woodrow wilson press, 2012) p. 193. the mikoyans arrived in havana on november 2. anastas mikoyan flew out on november 26. ↩
mikoyan supported stalin in the power struggle that ensued after the death of lenin in 1924. he executed all stalin’s orders aimed at discrediting the opposition. stalin greatly appreciated mikoyan’s efforts and in 1926 anastas mikoyan was elected candidate member of the party’s politburo. he was also appointed people' s commissar for external and internal trade .
mikoyan was the only one to escape execution – his survival remains a mystery to many historians to this day .
the mikoyan mission to cuba in the aftermath of the cuban missile crisis lasted from november 2 to november 26 .
sergo mikoyan, edited by svetlana savranskaya, the soviet cuban missile crisis: castro, mikoyan, kennedy, khrushchev, and the missiles of november (washington, dc: woodrow wilson press, 2012) p. 173. ↩
document 3 – telegram from gromyko to mikoyan, november 10, 1962. [ source: from the personal archive of sergo a. mikoyan donated to the national security archive. translated by anna melyakova for the national security archive ]
document 4 – telegram from gromyko to mikoyan, november 10, 1962. [ source: from the personal archive of sergo a. mikoyan donated to the national security archive. translated by svetlana savranskaya for the national security archive ]
document 6 –telegram from mikoyan to cc cpsu, november 17, 1962. [ source: from the personal archive of sergo a. mikoyan donated to the national security archive. translated by amanda conrad for the national security archive ]
document 7 – telegram from gromyko to mikoyan, november 18, 1962. [ source: from the personal archive of sergo a. mikoyan donated to the national security archive. translated by amanda conrad for the national security archive ]
document 10 – khrushchev telegram to mikoyan (special no. 2536ц), november 18, 1962. [ source: personal archive of sergo mikoyan donated to the national security archive. translated by amanda conrad for the national security archive ]
document 11 – gromyko telegram to mikoyan (special no. 2528), november 18, 1962. [ source: personal archive of sergo mikoyan donated to the national security archive. translated by amanda conrad for the national security archive ]
document 13 – mikoyan telegram to the cc cpsu (no. 1856), november 19, 1962. [ source: personal archive of sergo mikoyan donated to the national security archive. translated by svetlana savranskaya for the national security archive ]
document 8 – mikoyan telegram to khrushchev, special no. 1848, november 18, 1962 (sunday). [ source: sergo mikoyan personal archive, donated to the national security archive. translated by anna melyakova for the national security archive ]
it is thought that khrushchev' s “peaceful coexistence” and his emphasis on economic assistance to underdeveloped countries were in part inspired by mikoyan, and that his 1959 trip to the united states was not only prepared but possibly conceived by mikoyan. the habit of borrowing and buying machinery, methods and ideas from capitalist countries whenever usable was cultivated by mikoyan long before khrushchev adopted it .
sergo mikoyan, historian and editor of the soviet academic journal latin america and son of the former deputy prime minister anastas mikoyan, presents his findings on cuban - soviet relations at the historic 2002 havana conference on the 40th anniversary of the cuban missile crisis .
scale plans in 1 / 72, 1 / 48 and 1 / 32 of mikoyan gurevich mig - 1 / mig - 3 variants .
in 1956 mikoyan helped khrushchev organize the “secret speech” – the public denouncement of stalin’s personality cult. mikoyan’s speech was one of the most shocking that followed khrushchev’s report – he publicly acquitted many of those he purged in the middle of the 1930s. the whole audience was amazed at the “revelations. ”
mikoyan was especially good at establishing international relations. in 1959 he was sent to cuba to establish relations with fidel castro, becoming the first soviet leader to visit the island. it was mikoyan who secured a business deal that nowadays would border on insanity – he exchanged soviet oil for cuban sugar .
immediately after that mikoyan was noticed by joseph stalin, whose political ambitions were running high and who was looking for supporters. he sent mikoyan to work in the south of russia as head of the northern caucasian bureau of the communist party with its headquarters in the city of rostov - on - don .
anastas mikoyan was a soviet statesman who held top positions in the government for over 40 years – starting his career under lenin and ending it under brezhnev .
document 14 – mikoyan' s speech at the military council of general pavlov' s group, november 21, 1962. [ source: from the personal archive of dr. sergo a. mikoyan, donated to the national security archive. translation by svetlana savranskaya and amanda conrad for the national security archive ]
“mikoyan has never been a threat to anyone in the hierarchy, ” a middle‐ranking mos‐cow communist said recently. “that' s what makes him unique. ”
document 5 – a short record of the conversation between a. i. mikoyan, e. guevara, and a. mora, november 17, 1962. [ source: from the personal archive of sergo a. mikoyan donated to the national security archive. translated by amanda conrad for the national security archive ]
for his innovations in the food industry mikoyan was promoted to the post of the deputy chairman of the council of people’s commissars (the council of ministers) .
there are those who suspect that mikoyan had felt in his bones that the storm was brewing and took his precautions well in advance. on sept. 18, almost a month before khrushchev' s ouster, mikoyan made a speech at a rally for the indian president, who was visiting moscow. the speech was puzzling becauseit was out of character for both the speaker and the occasion. mikoyan sounded almost brutally antiwestern, anti ‐ american and. in spite of the identity of his
mikoyan - i - gurevich design bureau is a russian military aircraft design bureau primarily for fighter aircraft. it was formerly a soviet design bureau founded by artem mikoyan and mikhail gurevich, known as “mig. ” the russian government is planning to merge mikoyan and gurevich with ilyushin, irkut, sukhoi, tupolev, and yakovlev as a new company named “united aircraft corporation. ” the mig has been used by the chinese, north korea, and north vietnam in aerial confrontation with american and allied forces .
the record of several leadership crises shows evidence of mikoyan' s restraint and seeming detachment through which he avoided generating the kind of hatreds that might have led to his removal .
a complete and comprehensive history of the mikoyan design bureau which is packed with detail on the many types produced from 1939 to 2007, together with a huge selection of photographs .
mikoyan´s signature has also been found on the death sentence of the katyn massacre of 26, 000 polish officers, who had been arrested at the beginning of ww2 by soviet troops .
moscow, russia (tass) —test pilot, hero of the soviet union stepan mikoyan has died at the age of 94, the mig aircraft corporation press office reported on friday .
while taking part in stalin’s vicious purges, mikoyan tried to focus on what he did best – food supplies. in 1942 mikoyan became a member of the state defense committee, overseeing the distribution system and organizing a lifeline of supplies to the eastern parts of the country to where the majority of the population (as well as factories and plants) had been evacuated .
( continued from page 122) congress in 1959, mikoyan and suslov were the ones who spoke in the most moderate terms of molotov and his companions. mikoyan described them simply as the “anti‐party group. ” this was the strongest word he used, while khrushchev accused them of the “basest methods” and some of his other supporters called them despicable, loathsome, perfidious criminals .
guest, anti‐those of the asian and african countries which combine neutrality with anticommunism at home. could it be that mikoyan was seeking an alibi against future attacks on policies he had advocated ?
there was only one person he could turn to with this tall order - his reliable trouble shooter, anastas mikoyan. as fidel castro put it at a state dinner on november 17, addressing mikoyan ,
who if not you, and only you, can carry out this mission! if you cannot do this, then it proves that in general this is impossible .
a workers’ council. his aim was to educate armenian workers about the revolutionary movement. that same year mikoyan joined the bolshevik faction of the russian social democratic labor party. after the 1917 bolshevik revolution in russia he became one of the top party members in the caucasus. mikoyan moved to baku (now the capital of azerbaijan). first, he edited the armenian - language newspaper
a half a year later mikoyan tried to block khrushchev’s decision to use troops in crushing the popular revolt in hungary in 1956 and almost resigned when the soviet leaders did not listen to him .
his office, though not his life, may have been threatened also under khrushchev at least once, during the u‐2 incident with the u. s. khrushchev was reported to feel that his position was threatened and to be ready to offer mikoyan, an exponent of the policy of peaceful coexistence, to his critics as a scapegoat. but the incident blew over and mikoyan stayed .
shortly after that mikoyan was summoned to moscow. he was sent to work in the regional party committee in the nizhny novgorod region, located along the banks of the volga river. at first local party activists were rather cautious to receive a young activist from outside; mikoyan, however, had been through worse trouble than this and soon found a way to gain favor with the local bolsheviks .
because of his family background, mikoyan was put in charge of ¨cleaning up¨ the enemies of communism in his native armenia. dozens of high - ranking officials were displaced and sent to labor camps .
in october 1962, during the cuban missile crisis, mikoyan was dispatched to cuba. he tried hard to persuade fidel castro to remove all the nuclear missiles and bombers the soviet union had placed on the island. mikoyan managed to carry out his mission perfectly, despite the fact that right at the same time, his beloved wife ashhen died and he wasn’t even able to attend her funeral .
all through the past 10 years there had appeared to be a close personal affinity between the two men. a western ambassador who was an occasional guest at khrushchev' s dacha near uspenskoe, some 30 miles west of the capital, recalls that mikoyan was always around even if his presence was not required by the business at hand. mikoyan was often the target of khrushchev' s jokes, and frequently shot back his ownmuch subtler barbs. once, during an automobile trip in yugoslavia the solid khrushchev and the diminutive, lean mikoyan took to wrestling, an unlikely pair rolling in a field .
in 1946 mikoyan became vice chairman of the council of ministers. at the same time he held the post of minister of trade. however, his relations with stalin during that period became increasingly strained. he was no longer a frequent guest at stalin’s banquets or even the politburo sessions. rumors have it that mikoyan would have eventually been arrested, were it not for stalin' s death in 1953 .
document 9 – record of conversation between a. i. mikoyan and cdes. o. dorticos, e. guevara, e. aragonés, c. r. rodriguez, and r. roa at the presidential palace, november 18, 1962. [ source: from the personal archive of sergo a. mikoyan donated to the national security archive. translated by anna melyakova for the national security archive ]
anastas ivanovich mikoyan, of course, is president of the nation now, no longer the perennial deputy premier. but the point of the story is still valid: the great survivor has survived again .
but mikoyan didn’t last very long in brezhnev’s government – in 1965 he was forced to retire due to old age (he was70). he spent his remaining days writing memoirs about his life and political career .
anastas mikoyan died on 21 october 1978. he was buried not far from khrushchev at the novodevichye cemetery in moscow – brezhnev decided not to give either man a state funeral at the necropolis near the kremlin wall .
this, a soviet journalist recently recalled, made mikoyan the forerunner of nehru, nkrumah, makarios and others—the first of a long list of future presidents who spent a part of their early careers in british jails .
( continued from page 26) they made up a list of what they thought were the 26 most important men in the group. the 26 were shot. mikoyan was not on the list and stayed alive .
although mikoyan was apparently in danger of losing stalin’s favour, stalin died (march 1953) before he could purge him, and mikoyan was able to become minister of trade and deputy premier in the post - stalin government and to retain his membership in the party’s presidium (formerly the politburo). he subsequently supported khrushchev in his rise to power, and ultimately became khrushchev’s close adviser and a first deputy premier of the soviet union .
interview with sergo mikoyan by sherry jones ,
cuban missile crisis: what the world didn' t know ,
produced by sherry jones for peter jennings reporting, abc news (washington media associates, 1992) .
if mikoyan survived ail the changes in the soviet power structure, from trotsky' s downfall to that of khrushchev, he did not always remain unscathed. khrushchev at the 20th party congress gave him credit for having incurred the wrath of stalin and being marked for liquidation in the dictator' s last years in office. two years ago, one of the orators at the funeral of his wife disclosed that the younger of mikoyan' s five sons had been arrested and exiled to siberia by stalin and that mrs. mikoyan often spent sleepless nights not knowing whether her husband, then deputy premier, would ever come back from his office in the kremlin .
some openly objected to the new policy, but mikoyan never voiced any public protests against these measures, though the facts prove he considered them destructive. he remained loyal to stalin even in the obscure 1930s - during the times of inflation and hunger in many areas of the country. however, mikoyan worked hard to keep a balance between his loyalty to stalin and his responsibility to the people, exhausted by mass collectivization, arrests and famine .
“on march 24, 2016, hero of the soviet union, merited test pilot of the ussr aviation lieutenant - general stepan anastasovich mikoyan passed away at the age of 94, ” the press office said in a statement .
mikoyan performed flights until 1978. overall, he learned to operate 102 types of aircraft, including mig - 23, mig - 25 and mig - 27 planes. he logged a total of 3, 500 flight hours .
however, in 1957 mikoyan made another ‘twist” – he refused to back the coup by georgy malenkov and vyacheslav molotov to remove khrushchev from power. thus he forever secured his own position as one of khrushchev' s closest allies .
mikoyan graduated in 1941 from the kachinsk military aviation school and in december that year he went to the front. during the soviet union’s great patriotic war against nazi germany in 1941 - 1945 he fought as a fighter plane pilot .
in 1943 mikoyan was awarded the star of the “hero of socialist labor” but the award was of little comfort at a time when he mourned the loss of his son vladimir, whose plane was shot down during the battle of stalingrad .
“the new leader looks at him, pon‐ ders, then says, ‘i have to talk to my first deputy premier about this. ’ he picks up the phone, pushes a button and shouts, ‘mikoyan... ! ’ ”
but, the more young mikoyan studied the word of god, the closer he moved toward atheism. mikoyan once said about his school years: “i had a very distinct feeling that i didn' t believe in god even after i had received a certificate in materialist uncertainty; the more i studied religious subjects, the less i believed in god. ” he took courses in liberalism and socialism and step by step, was drawn closer to the revolutionary movements gaining strength throughout russia .
mikoyan was one of 26 commissars who coordinated bolshevik activity in the area under the aegis of the “baku soviet. ” it was a key location as, at the time, azerbaijan was the center of the bolshevik movement in the northern caucasus .
mikoyan remains a prominent figure in the new regime even though brezhnev and kosygin, the two heirs to khrushchev' s power, are not likely to listen to him as frequently and attentively as did the old premier, whose frequent companion he was .
mikoyan became known in soviet history as the man who spanned the political horizon of the ussr between “ilyich and ilyich” (ironically, the patronymic of both lenin and brezhnev was ilyich), having spent over 40 years at the top of the soviet hierarchical ladder .
once again mikoyan proved himself a good manager in the area populated with dozens of small nations. mikoyan was less brutal in bringing people under bolshevik rule than his predecessors. mindful of century - long traditions, he appealed to the common sense of the people, using persuasion rather than force to bring them under subjection. he also urged communists not to destroy churches and mosques and not to clash with the population on religious matters. he also demanded that his comrades respect the legitimate rights, which had been granted to merchants and rich peasants .
the mikoyan family was very religious and thus anastas’s father chose to send his young son to a theological seminary in the city of tiflis (now tbilisi, capital of georgia). later anastas entered the seminary in the city of echmiadzin in armenia, which is the residence of
on may 1, 1920, according to the soviet encyclopedia, “the eleventh red army... entered baku. . under the leadership of ordzonikidse, kirov and mikoyan. ” a picture taken at the time shows mikoyan as a dashing young partisan fighter in riding boots, a long cossack' s coat and astrakhan cap, with two cartridge belts crossed on his chest and an enormous dagger in his belt. next to him is ordzonikidse, in a peaked red army cap, and behind them, in a row of lesser figures, kirov. the picture was made during a victory parade in baku. mikoyan has his right hand raised in a military salute. but instead of looking straight ahead like all the others, he has his dark eyes turned sideways and is glowering self‐consciously and, it seems, suspiciously into the camera .
during the next leadership crisis, when khrushchev was challenged by molotov, kaganovich and malenkov, mikoyan (along with suslov) supported khrushchev when he was still in the minority. western specialists have never found any sign that he may have wavered. yet later on, at the 21st
mikoyan understood that signing every protocol initiated by stalin was the price he had to pay to retain his position and save his life. he sacrificed his convictions to diplomacy during the mass deportations of national minorities - crimean tatars, chechens, ingush and germans - to remote areas of the ussr .
mikoyan was born nov. 25, 1895, in the village of sanian, in what is now armenia. his father was a carpenter. like stalin, mikoyan got his education at a theological seminary in tbilisi (tiflis). when he graduated he joined the bolshevik underground instead of the church. two years later, when the revolution came, he was 22, a member of the party presidium in baku and editor of the local party newspaper. he became commissar of the baku brigade of the red army a few months later and was wounded during the fighting for the city .
after khrushchev was removed, mikoyan held the largely ceremonial position of chairman of the presidium of the supreme soviet from 1964 to december 1965. although he was excluded from the party’s presidium in april 1966, he remained a member of the central committee and continued to be honoured as a high official at public ceremonies. after his death in 1978, mikoyan was not accorded interment in the kremlin wall, the traditional resting place for the most honoured soviet leaders: he was buried in the novodevichy cemetery, moscow, site of the graves of second - rank public figures, including that of khrushchev .
mikoyan' s sense of balance made him oppose a trial for the anti‐party group and caused him to defend khrushchev at least to the point of wanting. to keep him in the presidium—but the same mod eration made him wince at some of khrushchev' s sudden impulses and verbal plunges. some of the wincing was done publicly at receptions, where foreigners could observe it. yet the imaginative “idea‐man” mikoyan is thought to have seen a complementary figure in the unorthodox doer, khrushchev, and to have regarded him as a boss who was free enough from dogmatic prejudices to be willing to take his advice .
the early 1920s brought massive famine to the southern regions of russia. in nizhny novgorod the starved army and peasants were on the verge of revolt, but mikoyan employed all the persuasive skills he had acquired to subdue the tension. soon he was elected as head of the governing body of nizhny novgorod .
mikoyan abandoned the priesthood to join the bolshevik party in 1915 and to become one of the chiefs of the revolutionary movement in the caucasus. in 1918 he was arrested by british troops that had intervened in the russian civil war. after his release, he went to work in the communist party organization .
castro resumed his usual practice of meeting foreign dignitaries at the airport–a courtesy he pointedly did not do with acting secretary - general of the united nations u thant a few days earlier–persuaded by mikoyan’s conciliatory tone in endorsing castro’s five points in a statement before boarding the plane at idlewild airport in new york. 2
soviet first deputy chairman of the council of ministers anastas mikoyan had just returned from a long and difficult mission to cuba to help repair the damage caused by the outcome of the cuban missile crisis. president kennedy was schedule to meet him later in the day. mcgeorge bundy prepared a talking points paper .
when the famous “baku commune” collapsed in 1918, mikoyan was jailed. he escaped with 35 companions. but the group was captured again when the freighter, in which they hoped to reach the communistheld northern shore of the caspian sea, delivered them instead to the british forces and the white guards in krasnovodsk .
the krasnovodsk episode, like most episodes, ended well for mikoyan, according to the official soviet biography. it seems that the british and the white guards found on one of the prisoners a paper identifying the members of the group entitled to receive food packages in jail. from this and from confiscated underground newspapers
in 1921, when the soviets took hold of baku, mikoyan came to the city and coordinated the reburial of his “brothers in arms. ” their common grave can still be found in one of the central squares of baku and the memory of the baku 26 has been commemorated in almost every soviet city since .
at the same time leonid brezhnev was elected the second secretary of the central committee of the communist party. mikoyan sensed the shifting dynamics in the higher echelons of power and foresaw the rise of brezhnev’s star. he participated in the coup that displaced khrushchev from the top position and put brezhnev in the ruling seat .
in 1921 vladimir lenin had introduced the new economic policy (nep), aimed at liberalizing trade in order to boost the country’s fragile economy. at first mikoyan was a supporter of liberal economic development. stalin, however, turned to tough measures against the middle - class and rich peasants, leading to their demise .
many still consider him one of the most contradictory yet skilled political figures of the soviet union. some historians and communist party officials have expressed surprise at mikoyan’s “art of political compromise. ” they say he could walk through the red square on a rainy day, passing between the drops of water and coming out dry .
this is the complete, comprehensive history of the famous mikoyan design bureau, from its establishment in 1939 to the present day. every aircraft type developed by the mikoyan okb is covered in detail, with descriptions of all known versions and a wealth of recently declassified data. line drawings are included for each major type, illustrating the difference between the versions, and there are also representative color side views and specification tables allowing the performance of different versions to be compared. production figures and information on mig aircraft operated abroad are also included. the book contains an impressive array of previously unpublished photographs, which will delight all fans of russian aviation .
few westerners in moscow today are willing to make pre‐ dictions about the length of time that any member of the hierarchy is likely to stay in his particular job. but most are convinced that if mikoyan ever ceases to be part of the leadership, it will be voluntarily and because of real as opposed to political old age .
during his three - month visit he did not only concentrate on the food industry - mikoyan had a productive talk with henry ford and studied the system of macy’s department store in new york. upon his return, mikoyan put some of his ideas into practice. he personally supervised the manufacturing of canned goods and sausages that turned out to be the russian version of american hot dogs. also, inspired by hamburgers, he launched the mass production of cutlets. his greatest love, however, was ice - cream, which contributed to the launch of the frozen foods industry and the transportation not only of comfort food but of many other goods that could be frozen .
anastas mikoyan was born in the village of sanain in the southernmost part of the russian empire (present day northern armenian) in 1895. his father was a carpenter and his mother wove rugs. his younger brother, artyom mikyoan, later became known as an outstanding plane constructor and co - creator of the famous mig military aircraft .
after stalin’s death the ussr was again swept into a power struggle between lavrenty beria, the sinister commissar for the interior and the then head of the ukrainian committee of the communist party, nikita khrushchev. while it was still unclear who would end up ruling the ussr, mikoyan cautiously balanced between the opposing parties. however, as soon as it was clear that khrushchev was winning, mikoyan gave in to the majority, supported beria’s arrest and execution and soon became an ardent supporter of “de - stalinization. ” he also helped to restore many of his comrades to their posts in the communist party and organized support for the families of those who had been executed during the purges .
mikoyan’s support of stalin in the power struggle of the early 1920s earned him a post in the central committee of the party in 1923. he was appointed people’s commissar for external and internal trade in 1926, and thereafter consistently held posts relating to that field. in 1935 he was elected a member of the politburo, serving as its specialist on trade matters. appointed to the state defense committee (february 1942), which ruled the soviet union during world war ii, mikoyan supervised the procurement and transport of supplies to the armed forces. in 1946 he became deputy premier (i. e. , vice chairman of the council of ministers), with responsibility for directing the country’s trade .
this trip was in the first days of the aftermath of the cuban missile crisis. the 33 - year - old sergo was again accompanying his father, anastas mikoyan, the first deputy chairman of the soviet council of ministers. anastas had been sent to smooth things over with fidel castro. castro had made it abundantly clear that he was furious with
this position was a stepping - stone to the higher echelons of power and gave him access to the top figures in the country – he traveled often to moscow, took part in all congresses of soviets and met with lenin on several occasions. finally in 1922, 26 - year old mikoyan was elected into the central committee of the russian communist party .
mikoyan, who. will be 69 this month, has been close to the center of soviet power longer than any other man, dead or alive. with shvernik, another presidium member, more or less on the sidelines for the past few years, he is the only old, or prerevolutionary, bolshevik still fully active at thetop of the hierarchy .
though mikoyan is not likely to be as close to either brezhnev or kosygin as he was to khrushchev, there is not the faintest doubt that he remains in his post because they want him, and possibly need him, as a symbol of continuity and a link to the origins of the revolution which he helped to bring about and they didn' t .
by this time it was clear the ussr would fall into turmoil unless the government started to develop food production. mikoyan became people’s commissar for food. in 1935, after he was elected a full member of the politburo, he went on a “goodwill trip to the united states to boost economic cooperation between the two countries and study the development of the us economy. ”
his capacity for survival has often been marveled at by western writers. the conclusion usually was that he was shrewder, more skillful and tougher and had a stronger instinct of self‐preservation than most of the other members of the hierarchy. but, in addition, there are purely political reasons why mikoyan, a complex and extraordinarily intelligent man, had a better chance of lasting than others .
in one of mikoyan' s most eloquent moments during the cuban trip, he addresses the officers of the pliev group of forces to explain the decisions of the soviet government. this is one of the first soviet efforts to spin the results of the cuban missile crisis to make it look as if khrushchev has envisioned it to turn out just exactly as it did, that the main goal - the defense of the cuban revolution - has been achieved. mikoyan assures them that their task has been carried out brilliantly and that the correlation of forces in the world is changing in the soviets' favor. in this speech, however, there is some real criticism of the way the soviet military carried out operation anadyr. mikoyan takes a stab at the rocket forces decision makers (marshall biryuzov), describing how the americans discovered the missiles :
they flew the u - 2 and discovered that our missiles were sticking up just like they were at a military parade in red square. only in red square they would be placed horizontally, and here they were deployed vertically. apparently, our rocket forces decided to make an offensive gesture to the americans .
mikoyan was overruled, and criticized for his stand, according to the reports. if, when everything was over, he had any emotions about the disappearance of his friend, he didn' t show them. the day after the changes were announced he went to kiev to make the principal speech at a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the reentry of soviet troops into the city .
after the bolsheviks came to power in 1917 mikoyan did his best to suppress any resistance by opposition forces in the area. he crushed the revolt of the musavatists, the independent party of azerbaijan, in 1918. when the civil war broke out all over the country, anastas became a commissar of the new red army regiment whose mission was to guard the city of baku from opposition forces .
as it happens, photographs taken in kiev on that day 20 years ago show khrushchev, then first secretary of the communist party of the ukraine, in the streets with the re‐entering soldiers, and up to the day of his disgrace he was praised for having played a vital role in the liberation of the ukraine. but his friend mikoyan managed not to mention his name during the celebration .
mikoyan tried hard to keep a low profile during stalin’s purges in the middle of the 1930s when millions of soviet citizens were declared “enemies of the people” and sent to labor camps on false charges. however, it was practically impossible to avoid any part in the purges. it was a final test of loyalty to stalin that every government official had to pass if he was to retain his position and in many cases avoid being arrested himself .
document 1 –telegram from ussr foreign minister gromyko to the soviet mission in new york for mikoyan regarding negotiations in cuba, november 1, 1962. [ source: avp rf; copy obtained by nhk, provided by philip brenner, and on file at national security archive, washington, d. c. ; translation by john henriksen, published in the cold war international history project bulletin, no. 8 - 9, p. 310 ]
for all anybody knows, mikoyan never made an effort, or even had the ambition, to become the all‐powerful man at the top. he never tried to build a party organization of his own. he never tried to create a personal following either in the party or in the country. the top men — stalin and khrushchev —had no reason to fear him. and those who were jockeying for positions beneath them had no reason to wait for him in ambush .
the documents, published today for the first time, allow us to be a fly on the wall as mikoyan goes about trying to fulfill his mission - first in new york and then in havana. we see him as a tough negotiator with john mccloy and adlai stevenson, defending the cuban position, knowing at the same time that soviet concessions had already been made and that his bargaining position was extremely weak. in cuba, mikoyan, faced with castro' s flat rejection of ground inspections, is trying to find a compromise position with inspections by ambassadors from latin american countries who are already in cuba. we see how crucial he was in the dynamics of negotiating the end of the cuban missile crisis - at the very nexus of a three - party negotiation, negotiating with the cubans, privy to all communications between moscow and its representatives at the u. n. , and in daily contact with the presidium and nikita khrushchev himself .
mikoyan stayed in the provinces for six years after the baku victory. in 1926, stalin brought him to moscow. his party and government careers were outwardly smooth and steady from then on. he was made an alternate member of the politburo that same year; in 1935, he became a full member; and he still is. he became commissar of supplies in 1931; from 1933 to 1955, he was uninterruptedly either minister of internal or foreign trade or both; this is still ins major interest .
over the years he became a famous trader and socialist entrepreneur. american businessmen have been quoted as saying that if he had emigrated to the united states he would now be a multi‐millionaire with a park avenue penthouse. he has become known as the man who introduced eskimo pie to the soviet union and who gave his name to a moscow meat packing plant. the “mikoyan cutlet”—nobody knows whether it is pork or beef or perhaps fish or fowl—is still the cheapest, most popular if not most revered piece of meat a few kopecks can buy .
thirty‐six years later, another cameraman caught him in exactly the same pose, in different dress and circumstances. wearing a shiny black silk hat, he is slumping in a seat of what looks like a theater during a gala reception in pakistan. again he is the first figure in the foreground, with other dignitaries on his right. the others again are absorbed in the official spectacle. and mikoyan alone, his head slightly turned, is keeping watch, out of the corner of his eyes, on what is going on off camera .
document 2 – record of a dinner conversation between cpsu cc politburo member a. i. mikoyan, white house envoy john mccloy, and u. s. ambassador to the un adlai stevenson, november 1, 1962. [ source: foreign policy archive of the russian federation; provided to the cwihp. copy on file at the national security archive. translation by vladislav m. zubok for the national security archive. published in cold war international history (cwihp) bulletin, issues 8 - 9, winter 1996 / 1997, pp. 315 - 320 ]
mikoyan is also very sensitive to the issue of revolutionary legacy and concerned about the effect of the soviet withdrawal on chinese influence in cuba. he is using every
opportune moment
to criticize the chinese position and draw comparisons between the soviet willingness to defend cuba with the real blood and life of its own soldiers and the chinese efforts to donate blood by their embassy people in havana. he suggests that if china was serious about helping cuba, it could have created a distraction - create a crisis around taiwan, or take over some portuguese or british bases, like hong kong .
on october 28, after khrushchev and kennedy had just resolved the most acute and public part of the cuban missile crisis, the soviet leaders decided to send anastas mikoyan to cuba to settle the crisis between the soviet union and their ally, cuba. fidel castro, who was not consulted or even informed about the negotiations between the soviets and the americans, sent khrushchev an angry letter
disagreeing
with the policies of the soviet government. khrushchev knew he had a real problem in cuba - with 42, 000 soviet military personnel armed with tactical nuclear weapons - and an emotional revolutionary leader, who felt betrayed and abandoned by the kremlin .
moreover, having supported khrushchev during the showdown, mikoyan later opposed the members of the winning faction who wanted to bring the anti‐party group to trial. this was essentially the same position he took during the showdown on khrushchev' s fate last month. according to the best reports now available, he was not among those who initiated khrushchev' s downfall. he joined the majority and made the decision unanimous, these reports say. in the central committee he is said to have intervened to advocate a smooth transition under which khrushchev, though guilty of “obvious errors, ” would have remained a member of the party presidium and hence an honored elder statesman .
following the formal birth of their design bureau in 1939, the mikoyan and gurevich design team ascended with extraordinary rapidity into the ranks of the aerospace elite. this meteoric rise was not without justification, as their perseverance had resulted in the development of a number of truly exceptional fighters in an environment that would have defeated a less tenacious pair in short order. beginning with the mig - 1 and mig - 3 piston engine fighters, their work consistently represented the state - of - the art in the soviet union for some four decades and did not end with their respective deaths in 1970 and 1976. talented engineers such as rostislav belyakov were quick to fill the voids left by their mentors, and as result, the legacy of excellence continues .
translated to english by the c. i. a. , this soviet propaganda film was originally created in july, 1967 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the russian revolution, and to document the moscow air show. the film also shows some of the history of aviation in the ussr. this amazing film features combat footage from wwii, as well as (at about the 3 minute mark) interesting historic footage of aircraft designers pavel sukhoi, alexander yakovlev and artem mikoyan and mikhail gurevich (the men behind the
mig
), and many others. a gigantic air show is then shown - - the 50th anniversary of the october revolution air show that was held in the summer, on 9 july 1967 at domodedovo airport. this unprecedented display of air power featured twelve new types or variants of military aircraft including the mig - 23, mig - 25, su - 11, su - 15, su - 17, and stol aircraft (mig, su, yak - 36). the advances revealed prompted great concern in the west. this film is part of the periscope film llc archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the usa. entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p hd and 2k. for more information visit urltoken
... but there was a let down in production values. in the early' 90s there was a book entitled
okb mig
by the same publisher. it was good for it' s time but the flood of new information on russian military hardware (and the appetite for it) was only beginning. with four newer and better okb titles released the mig title was ripe for overhaul. once
okb mikoyan
was announced i put my copy of
okb mig
on the sale list. it is certainly a vast improvement on the original. authors gordon and komissarov should be familiar names to any soviet / russian aerospace enthusiast and their efforts here are well up to the high standards they' ve set in other books. they held up their end. however, the production values slipped in a number of respects and this prevented the book from getting 5 stars. 1. most seriously, the poor reproduction of the line drawings in the first half of the book. up through and including the mig - 19 the drawings look like multiple generation copies of originals. pixelation, jagged lines, lines dropping out, are all in evidence. thankfully, from the mig - 21 series onward there is much improvement. 2. there are numerous
editing glitches
in the book. photo captions sometimes refer to photos on the opposite page which aren' t there. obviously a layout change didn' t catch up with the captions. the paragraph that introduces chapters 7 (combat projects) and 8 (commercial aircraft) are identical. the paragraph for chapter 7 was lost at some point. 3. a fair amount of typos in this book. this is unavoidable in a work this size with so many alphanumerical designations but it seemed excessive. a lot of botched metric to english conversions (when in doubt go with the metric). 4. for whatever reason there was a decision not to cover chinese variants of the mig - 21 even though chinese versions of previous mig fighters * were * covered. also there was no coverage of the mig - 21' s combat career even though all other aircraft have such coverage. why? all this said these deficiencies are in no way deal breakers. this is good value for the (admittedly high) asking price. i hope there are plans afoot at midland to upgrade the sukhoi book and add other design bureaus like mil' and antonov .
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moscow, feb. 21 - when the russian carrier aeroflot announces next month which manufacturer will replace part of its aging fleet of long - range passenger jets, a russian contestant will not even be in the running .
yet much more than next month' s deal is at stake. a fierce battle here between boeing and its rival, airbus, is just getting warm, with airbus talking tuesday of a long - term cooperation pact worth $ 25 billion as it jostles to gain the upper hand.
russian aircraft corporation mig ( российская самолетостроительная корпорация « миг » rossyskaya samoletostroitelnaya korporatsiya " mig " ) , or rsk mig , is a russian aerospace joint stock company . formerly mikoyan and gurevich design bureau ( russian : микоя́н и гуре́вич , миг mikoyan i gurevich , mig ) , then simply mikoyan , rsk mig is a military aircraft design bureau , primarily designing fighter aircraft . its head office is in begovoy district , northern administrative okrug , moscow . mig aircraft are a staple of the soviet and russian air forces , and the soviet union sold many of these aircraft within its sphere of influence . they have been used by the militaries of north korea , and north vietnam and india and also in aerial confrontations with american and allied forces , and form part of the air forces of many arab nations . 
russian aircraft corporation mig (российская самолетостроительная корпорация « миг » rossyskaya samoletostroitelnaya korporatsiya " mig "), or rsk mig, is a russian aerospace joint stock company. formerly mikoyan and gurevich design bureau (russian: микоя́н и гуре́вич, миг mikoyan i gurevich, mig), then simply mikoyan, rsk mig is a military aircraft design bureau, primarily designing fighter aircraft. its head office is in begovoy district, northern administrative okrug, moscow. mig aircraft are a staple of the soviet and russian air forces, and the soviet union sold many of these aircraft within its sphere of influence. they have been used by the militaries of north korea, and north vietnam and india and also in aerial confrontations with american and allied forces, and form part of the air forces of many arab nations.
russian aircraft corporation mig (российская самолетостроительная корпорация « миг » rossyskaya samoletostroitelnaya korporatsiya " mig "), or rsk mig, is a russian aerospace joint stock company. formerly mikoyan and gurevich design bureau (russian: микоя́н и гуре́вич, миг mikoyan i gurevich, mig), then simply mikoyan, rsk mig is a military aircraft design bureau, primarily designing fighter aircraft. its head office is in begovoy district, northern administrative okrug, moscow. mig aircraft are a staple of the soviet and russian air forces, and the soviet union sold many of these aircraft within its sphere of influence. they have been used by the militaries of north korea, and north vietnam and india and also in aerial confrontations with american and allied forces, and form part of the air forces of many arab nations.