Mikhail Alekseevich Iasnov

Born May 23 (June 5), 1906, in the village of Gory, in what is now Ozery Raion, Moscow Oblast. Soviet state and party figure. Hero of Socialist Labor (1976). Member of the CPSU since 1925.

The son of a peasant, Iasnov became a worker in 1918. In 1925 he graduated from the workers’ school at Moscow State University. From 1928 to 1930 he served in the Red Army. Beginning in 1930 he held a series of executive positions in construction organizations in Moscow. Iasnov was deputy chairman of the Moscow city executive committee from 1938 to 1949. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941—45 he played an instrumental role in the construction of defensive fortifications around Moscow and helped direct the emergency repair service of the local antiaircraft system.

In 1949, Iasnov served as deputy minister of civil engineering of the USSR, and from 1950 to 1956 he was chairman of the Moscow city executive committee. He was chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR in 1956 and 1957 and first deputy chairman from 1957 to 1966. Iasnov became chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR in 1966 and deputy chairman in 1967. In 1952 he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and from 1956 to 1966 he was a member of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU for the RSFSR.

Iasnov served as a deputy to the third through tenth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and from 1950 to 1954 he was chairman of the Soviet of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Iasnov has been awarded seven Orders of Lenin, three other orders, and various medals.