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- The Life and Times of Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan
Episode 28 | Recorded on December 3, 2020
Show Notes
Born in 1895 in Sanahin, Armenia, Anastas Mikoyan rose to become the most influential Soviet statesman of Armenian origin. A political survivor, he navigated the power struggles of every Soviet regime from Lenin to Brezhnev, at one point becoming Khrushchev’s right-hand man and the second most powerful figure in the USSR. His legacy remains controversial and complex.
Today on Groong, we take a closer look at this extraordinary and enigmatic figure.
Joining us is Pietro Shakarian, a historian and PhD candidate in Russian history at The Ohio State University. His dissertation examines Mikoyan’s role in Khrushchev-era reforms, particularly de-Stalinization and Soviet nationality policy. Pietro’s work on Russia, Armenia, and the post-Soviet world has been featured in The Nation, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Russian International Affairs Council, Russia Direct, and Hetq. He has also collaborated with the Gomidas Institute in London on republishing 19th-century accounts of the Russian Caucasus and Armenia.
Wrap-up
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Guests
Pietro Shakarian
Dr. Pietro Shakarian is a historian of Russia and the Soviet Union and a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Historical Research at the National Research University–Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg, Russia. He is currently completing his book on the major role of Anastas Mikoyan in Soviet nationality policy reform and de-Stalinization during the era of Nikita Khrushchev’s Thaw. Dr. Shakarian’s analyses on Russian and post-Soviet affairs have appeared in The Nation, The Plain Dealer, and various other publications. He was previously a lecturer in history at the American University of Armenia in Yerevan.
Hosts
Hovik Manucharyan
Hovik Manucharyan is an information security engineer who moved from Seattle to Armenia in 2022. He co-founded the ANN/Groong podcast in 2020 and has been a contributor to Groong News since the late 1990s.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by Hovik Manucharyan on the ANN/Groong podcast are his own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of his employer or any other organization.
Asbed Bedrossian
Asbed Bedrossian is an IT professional with extensive experience in enterprise IT infrastructure, IT security, enterprise applications, data center operations, high performance computing, ITSM, ITPM, and more.
Asbed is founder of the Armenian News Network Groong (ca. 1989/1990) and co-founder of the ANN/Groong podcast in 2020.