| Vyacheslav Molotov | |
 | |
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union
| |
| In office 1930–1941 | |
| Preceded by | Alexei Rykov |
|---|---|
| Succeeded by | Joseph Stalin |
| Born | March 9, 1890[1] Kukarta, Russian Empire (now Russia) |
| Died | November 8, 1986 (aged 96) Moscow, Russia |
Vyacheslav Molotov (March 9, 1890 - November 8, 1986) was the foreign minister of the former Soviet Union from 1939 to 1956 and one of the architects of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. The Molotov Cocktail, an improvised petrol bomb widely used by Finnish troops against tanks while resisting Soviet aggression in the Winter War of 1939-1940, is named for him. He also served both Lenin and Stalin, which resulted in him being asked which of the two was more severe and answering without hesitation that Lenin was more severe.[2][3]
