biography
| name: |
Molotov, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich
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(from Rus molot, ‘hammer’), originally Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Skriabin
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pronunciation:
[molotof]
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1890–1986)
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| biography:
| Russian statesman and prime minister (1930–41), born in Kukaida, Russia. An international figure from 1939, when he became foreign minister (1939–49, 1953–6), he was Stalin's chief adviser at Teheran and Yalta, and was present at the founding of the UN (1945). After World War 2, he emerged as the uncompromising champion of world Sovietism; his nyet (‘no’) at meetings of the UN became a byword, and fostered the Cold War. He resigned in 1956, and was demoted by Krushchev. He was expelled from the Communist party's Presidium and sent into virtual exile as ambassador to Outer Mongolia. In the 1960s he retired to his home near Moscow. His name is preserved in Molotov cocktail - a bottle of inflammable liquid used as a weapon - which he put into production during World War 2. |
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