Boris Vannikov

Boris Lvovich Vannikov ( _ru. Бори́с Льво́вич Ва́нников) (26 August, 1897, Baku, Russian Empire - 22 February, 1962, Moscow, USSR), Soviet government and military official, a three-star General. People's Commissar for Armament from January 1939 through June 1941, and for Ammunition from February 1942 through June 1946. From 1945 through 1953 Vannikov was Head of the 1st Main Directorate of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. In this position Vannikov worked under direct leadership of Lavrenty Beria overseeing the Soviet atomic bomb project. After Beria's arrest and death in 1953, Vannikov was demoted to the position of First Deputy Minister of Middle Machinery (a code word for the nuclear research and atomic weapons production in the USSR). Retired in 1958.

On June 7 1941, Vannikov was arrested for "failing to carry out his duties". However, as the war with Germany started on 22 June, Vannikov was released on 25 July 1941 and appointed First Deputy People's Commissar for Armament.

Vannikov was thrice named a Hero of Socialist Labor (1942, 1949, and 1954), and twice awarded the Stalin Prize (1951 and 1953).

Publications

Books

*ru icon " [http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/vannikov/index.html Записки наркома] " ("Narkom's Essays"). Prepared for publication in 1960s, it was published in 1988 in "Znamya" magazine (Знамя, 1988:1-2)