Rudnev, Konstantin Nikolaevich

Born June 9 (22), 1911, in Tula. Soviet statesman and party official. Hero of Socialist Labor (1961). Member of the CPSU from 1941. Son of a teacher.

Rudnev graduated from the Tula Mechanics Institute in 1935. From 1935 to 1948 he held engineering, technical, and administrative posts, such as department chief of a design office, chief engineer, plant director, and director of a scientific research institute. He was an executive in the defense industry from 1948. Rudnev was deputy minister of armaments of the USSR in 1952–53 and deputy minister of the defense industry of the USSR from 1953 to 1958. In 1958 he was deputy chairman of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR for Defense Technology, and from 1958 to 1961, chairman of the committee with the rank of minister of the USSR. From 1961 to 1965, Rudnev served as deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and chairman of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on the Coordination of Scientific Research. In September 1965 he became minister of instrument-making, means of automation, and control systems of the USSR.

Rudnev was a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU from 1961. He was a deputy to the sixth through ninth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was awarded six Orders of Lenin, three other orders, and various medals.