USSR Council of Defense

On December 20, 1954, a secret resolution of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU “On the Establishment of the Supreme Soviet of Defense of the USSR” was issued ^[1] .

On February 7, 1955, a secret resolution of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee approved the resolution of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers on the establishment of the Council of Defense of the USSR ^{[2] [3]} . The Council of Defense of the USSR was entrusted with the consideration of questions of the defense of the country and the Armed Forces. The first part consisted of: Chairman - NS Khrushchev ; members Bulganin N.A., Voroshilov K.E. , Kaganovich L.M. , Molotov V.M., Zhukov G.K., Vasilevsky A.M. When the Council of Defense was established as a deliberative body of the Military Council ^[4]

The position of the Defense Council in the system of state authorities was enshrined in Article 121 of the USSR Constitution of 1977 ^[5] , according to which the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR formed the Defense Council and approved its composition ^[6] .

Compulsory participation in the work of the Council of Defense of the USSR was established by members of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee ; heads of state administration bodies and state organizations and other persons related to the discussed issues of defense of the Union were also invited to attend. The Council of Defense of the Union, as a rule, held its meetings with a certain frequency. And in the case of special need, as it was, for example, when making decisions about sending formations of the USSR Armed Forces to Cuba , in 1962, he was going to extraordinary meetings.

After the establishment in 1990 of the post of President of the USSR and the Security Council of the USSR, he acted as an advisory body to the head of state; abolished by the decree of the President of the USSR of December 25, 1991 "On the addition by the President of the USSR of the powers of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the USSR and the abolition of the Defense Council under the President of the USSR" ^[7] .

On February 7, 1955, the Decree of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On the establishment of the Council of Defense of the USSR" approved the draft resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR on the establishment of the Council of Defense of the USSR ^[8] .

Initially, on the basis of a joint Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, it was approved as follows:

• Chairman - N. S. Khrushchev ;

Members :

In the future, the composition of the Council was subject to change. The last composition, approved by decree of the President of the USSR of October 1, 1991 No. UP-2634 ^[9] , was as follows:

• Chairman - M. S. Gorbachev ;

Members :

Chairs of the USSR Defense Council

• Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev (February 1955 - November 1964),
• Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (November 1964 - November 1982),
• Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (November 1982 - February 1984),
• Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (February 1984 - March 1985),
• Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (March 1985 - December 1991).

Defense Council Secretaries

The executive secretaries of the USSR Council of Defense were the deputy chiefs of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces :

• Colonel General N. O. Pavlovsky (1955-1959),
• Army General S. P. Ivanov (1959-1962),
• Colonel-General M. I. Povaliy (1962—1969),
• Army General M. M. Kozlov (1969–1974),
• Marshal of the Soviet Union S. F. Akhromeev (1974-1986),
• Colonel-General S. A. Dikov (1986-1989),
• Lt. Gen. A. R. Chuvakin (1989–1991).

February 7, 1955 Resolution of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On the establishment of the Military Council under the Council of Defense of the USSR" was established, as an advisory body under the Council of Defense, the Military Council consisting of:

• Chairman Zhukov GK
• Members - Antonov A.I., Bagramyan I.K., Biryuzov S.S., Vasilevsky A.M., Vinogradov V.I., Govorov L.A., Golovko A.G., Gorbatov A.V., Gorshkov S. G., Grechko A. A., Eremenko A. I., Zheltov A. S., Zhigarev P. F., Zakharov M. V., Konev I. S., Kuznetsov N. G., Kuznetsov F. F., Kurasov V. V., Luchinsky A. A., Malinin M. S., Malinovsky R. Ya., Meretskov K. A., Moskalenko K. S., Nedelin M. I., Panteleev Yu. A. ., Petrov I.Ye., Poluboyarov P.P., Sokolovsky V.D., Timoshenko S.K., Chabanenko A.T., Chuykov V.I., Yakovlev N.D., Vershinin K.A., Bass N. E.

Colonel-General N. O. was appointed responsible secretary of the Military Council.

Mandatory participation in the work of the Military Council under the Council of Defense of the USSR was established for members of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee and leaders of state bodies and organizations and other persons involved in the Union’s defense issues were also invited to attend.

The members of the Armed Forces under the USSR Council of Defense were: the Chief of the General Staff , the Commanders- in -Chief of the branches of the Armed Forces , the commanders and chiefs of the armed forces and services, some of the chiefs of the main and central directorates of the USSR Ministry of Defense , a number of commanders of military districts and fleets .

G. K. Zhukov presented a note to the Central Committee of the CPSU on the abolition of the Military Council under the Council of Defense of the USSR, on May 15, 1956, arguing that the existence of two bodies - the Military Council under the Council of Defense of the USSR and the Board of the Ministry of Defense chaired by the same person the same composition of the members of the council and collegium is unnecessary, and on this basis, the Military Council attached to the Council of Defense of the USSR was abolished.

In the Imperial period :

• Council of State Defense (1905 - 1909).

In the Soviet period :

• Council of Workers 'and Peasants' Defense (1918 - 1920);
• Council of Labor and Defense at the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR (1920-1923);
• Council of Labor and Defense at the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (1923 - 1937);
• Defense Committee under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (1937 - 1941);
• State Committee of Defense of the USSR (1941 - 1945).

In the Modern period :

• Council of Defense of the Russian Federation (1996 - 1998).

• Note by G. K. Zhukov to the Central Committee of the CPSU on the abolition of the Military Council under the Council of Defense of the USSR, May 15, 1956, Top Secret .
• Report of D.F. Ustinov, R.Ya. Malinovsky, M.I. Nedelina to the USSR Council of Defense on the construction of special objects in the USSR Ministry of Defense, February 20, 1959, Top Secret of Special Importance .
• A. M. Plekhov, S. G. Shapkin, Dictionary of military terms. - M .: Military Publishing , 1988.
• R.G. Pikhoya, Soviet Union: A History of Power (1945 - 1991). M .: RAGS, 1998.
• The collapse of the USSR. Documents / Compiled by A. V. Shubin. - Moscow: Institute of World History, RAS, 2006. - 286 pp. - Circulation: 500 copies. - ISBN 5-94067-178-0
• The collapse of the USSR: documents and facts (1986–1992): in 2 tons. T. I: Normative acts. Official reports M .: Volters Kluver, 2009 - 1120 pp. - Circulation: 1000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-466-00552-3
• The task of special national importance. From the history of the creation of nuclear missiles and the Strategic Missile Forces (1945-1959): Sat. doc / comp .: V.I. Ivkin, G.A. Sukhina. - M .: Russian Political Encyclopedia (ROSSPEN), 2010.

• The Council of Defense of the USSR on the website of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Ministry of Defense of Russia).
• Lyoshin M. G., Ul M. The Council of Defense of the USSR (1955-1991).