Vladimir Semenovich Semenov

Born Feb. 3 (16), 1911, in the village of Krasnoslobodskoe, now Inokovka, Kirsanov Raion, Tambov Oblast. Soviet diplomat and party figure. Member of the CPSU since 1938.

The son of a railroad worker, Semenov graduated from the Moscow Institute of History, Philosophy, and Literature in 1937. He began his career as a diplomat in 1939, serving in Lithuania, Germany, and Sweden. From 1945 to 1953 he held the post of political adviser, first to the head of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany and then to the chairman of the Soviet Control Commission there. In 1953 and 1954 he served as supreme commissar of the USSR in Germany, as well as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the USSR to the German Democratic Republic.

In 1954 and 1955, Semenov was a member of the Collegium of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and the head of a department in the ministry. He became deputy minister of foreign affairs of the USSR in March 1955. A participant in many international conferences and meetings, Semenov has headed the USSR delegation in the negotiations with the USA on strategic arms limitatons since November 1969.

From 1952 to 1966, Semenov was a member of the Central Auditing Commission of the CPSU. He became a candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1966. He has been awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, and four other orders, as well as several medals.