Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov (Russian: Вячесла́в Миха́йлович Мо́лотов) (March 9 [O.S. February 25] 1890 – November 8, 1986) was a Soviet politician and diplomat. He was a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he came to power. He was a protégé of Joseph Stalin, until the 1950s. Nikita Khrushchev dismissed him from office. He was the main Soviet signatory of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact of 1939. This pact was signed between Germany and the USSR, and it was a promise not to attack each other. The pact lasted about two years, until Germany started the invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22 1941.