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 CONFIDENTIAL USSR Minister of the Electrical Equipment Industry

Since 1965 Aleksey Antonov (pronounced ahnTOHnuf) has presided over the Soviet Union's expanding electrotechnical industry as Minister of the Electrical Equipment Industry. A represented aministrator with a strong engineering background, he oversees a Ministry responsible for a wide range of electrical equipment, particularly that related to the generation and transmission of electrical power. His articles on Ministry operations have appeared widely in the Soviet press, and he has been publicly candid about both the Ministry's successes and its shortcomings. Antonov has been a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) since 1940 and a voting member of the CPSU Central Committee since 1971.

The Ministry of the Electrical Equipment Industry occupies a leading role in the Soviet economy. Its progress in the development and production of large-scale electrical equipment determines, in large measure, the rate at which industrial expansion takes place, particularly in the developing Siberian and Central Asian areas. Under Antonov's leadership, improvement of conventional electrotechnical equipment has proceeded alongside research in exotic power systems using superconductor and electron beam technology. Antonov's realistic evaluation of Soviet technical competence has also resulted in extensive contact with Western firms to provide the additional technical input and materials needed to fulfill Ministry objectives.

Early Life and Career

Aleksey Konstantinovich Antonov was born on 8 June 1912 in Grodno in Belorussia. The son of a teacher, Antonov worked as a mechanic during the early 1930's. He graduated from the Leningrad Polytechnical Institute in 1935. From 1937 until 1957 Antonov worked successively as an engineer, head of a laboratory, a deputy chief designer, a shop and production chief and a chief engineer at plants in the aviation industry. When former Premier Nikita Khrushchev abolished most Ministries in 1957 in favor of the regional councils of the national economy (?). Antonov was appointed to the prestigious Leningrad. He served there as chief engineer (1957-59), deputy chairman (1959-61) and chairman (1961-65). He was also a member of the bureau of the Leningrad Oblast Party Committee during 1961-[Missing following pages]