Andrei Gromyko

Andrei Gromyko (b 1909) succeeded Vyacheslav Molotov as Foreign Commissar of the Soviet Union when Molotov became General Secretary following the death of Joseph Stalin. Gromyko, a protege of Molotov from their days together in the Foreign Commisariat, was one of Molotov's most important advisors during Molotov's General Secretaryship, and unlike Marshal Georgy Zhukov of the Red Army and Lavrenty Beria of the NKVD, was trusted by Molotov.