# Ivan Kovalev (politician)

Ivan Vladimirovich Kovalev (Russian: Иван Владимирович Ковалёв; June 28, 1901 – May 28, 1993) was a Soviet military officer and statesman. Lieutenant general of the Technical Troops (1943). Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union of the 2nd Convocation (1946–1950).

## Biography

Born into a peasant family, until the age of 18, he worked in his father's household. In March 1919, he was drafted into the ranks of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.
* 1919–1921 – Scout of the 31st Turkestan Artillery Battalion, Red Army Soldier of the 3rd Battalion of the All–Russian Extraordinary Commission in Voronezh;
* 1921–1922 – Cadet of the Voronezh Military Railway School of Technicians;
* 1922–1923 – Reserve Agent, Assistant to the Station Chief of the 10th Railway Regiment, then a battalion of the Caucasian Army;
* 1923–1925 – Political Leader of a company in the 13th Voronezh Railway Battalion, then in the 7th Michurinsky Railway Regiment;
* 1925–1926 – Student of the Advanced Training Courses for Command Personnel in Leningrad;
* 1926–1930 – Platoon Commander, Commander and Political Leader of a company of the 7th Railway Regiment;
* 1930–1935 – Student at the Military Transport Academy of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army;
* 1935–1936 – Senior Inspector of the People's Commissariat of Communication Routes of the Soviet Union;
* 1936–1937 – Head of the Control and Inspection Group at the Administration of the Moscow–Belarusian–Baltic, then South Ural Railways;
* 1937–1939 – Road Inspector for Traffic Safety on the Omsk Railway, then Head of the Western Railway Department;
* 1939–1941 – Head of the Central Military Department, member of the Board of the People's Commissariat of Communication Routes of the Soviet Union;
* May–July 1941 – Deputy People's Commissar of State Control of the Soviet Union for Railway Transport;
* 8 July 1941–1944 – Head of the Office of Military Communications of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (from January 1943 – of the Central Office of Military Communications of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army). Also, since 1942, he was a member of the Transport Committee under the State Defense Committee of the Soviet Union.
* 20 December 1944–1948 – People's Commissar (Minister) of Communication Routes of the Soviet Union. Participated in the work of the Potsdam Conference.
* 1948–1950 – Chief Adviser to the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party – the head of Soviet military specialists in China;
* 1950–1951 – Head of the Donetsk District of Railways;
* 1951–1957 – Deputy Minister of the Coal Industry of the Soviet Union;
* 1957–1960 – Senior Researcher of the Military Scientific Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union;
* 1960–1969 – Senior Lecturer at the Military Academy of the General Staff;
* 1969–1985 – at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union: Senior Researcher, Head of Laboratory, Chief Researcher;
* Since September 1985, he has been a pensioner of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union. During these years, he was a consultant at the Center for Operational–Strategic Research of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union.
He was buried in Moscow at the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery.

## Remembrance

On January 19, 2018, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation established the Lieutenant General Kovalev Medal.

## Awards

* 3 Orders of Lenin (1939, March 3, 1942, February 21, 1945);
* Order of the October Revolution;
* 3 Orders of the Red Banner (September 18, 1943, November 3, 1944, ...);
* Order of Suvorov, 1st Class (July 29, 1945);
* Order of Kutuzov, 1st Class (August 3, 1944);
* Order of the Patriotic War, 1st Class (March 11, 1985);
* Order of the Red Star;
* Order of the Red Banner of Labour;
* A number of medals of the Soviet Union.

## Works

* Ivan Kovalev. Soviet Railway Transport. 1917–1947 – Moscow: Publishing House and 1st Printing House of the All–Union Publishing and Printing Association of Railway Transport, 1947;
* Ivan Kovalev. Railway Transport in the New Stalinist Five–Year Plan – Moscow: Publishing House and 1st Printing House of the All–Union Publishing and Printing Association of Railway Transport, 1947;
* Ivan Kovalev. Transport in the Decisive Operations of the Great Patriotic War – Moscow: Knowledge, 1969;
* Ivan Kovalev. Rail Transport in the Far East Campaign // Military History Journal – 1975 – No. 9 – Pages 50–54;
* Willful Decisions... [Interview With Ivan Kovalev] // Military History Journal – 1988 – No. 12 – Pages 38–50.