page_title: Nikolai Podgorny
section_title: Diplomatic protocol as head of state
hierarchical_section_title: Nikolai Podgorny / Post-Khrushchev troika (1964–1977) / Diplomatic protocol as head of state
caption_attribution_description: Português: Fotografia do Fundo Correio da Manhã, sob a guarda do Arquivo Nacional.
context_page_description: Nikolai Viktorovich Podgorny was a Soviet statesman who served as the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the head of state of the Soviet Union, from 1965 to 1977.
  Podgorny was born to a Ukrainian working-class family in the city of Karlovka, graduating from a local worker's school in 1926 and the Kiev Technological Institute of Food Industry in 1931. Podgorny became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1930 and climbed up the Soviet hierarchy through the industrial ladder by delivering production goals set by the bureaucrats of the centrally planned economy. By 1953, Podgorny became Second Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine in 1953 before later serving as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine from 1957 to 1963.
  In October 1964, Podgorny participated in a coup replacing Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev with a troika consisting of himself, Premier Alexei Kosygin and General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev. On 6 December 1965, he took Anastas Mikoyan's place as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.
context_section_description: In 1967, just before the outbreak of the Six-Day War, Podgorny delivered an intelligence report to Egyptian Vice President Anwar Sadat which claimed, falsely, that Israeli troops were massing along the Syrian border. That same year, he engaged in a dialogue with Pope Paul VI as part of the pontiff's ostpolitik; the result was greater openness for the Roman Catholic Church in Eastern Europe. In 1971 Podgorny went on two state visits, the first to the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the second to North Vietnam; Kosygin went on a visit to Canada while Brezhnev visited Yugoslavia. Podgorny frequently paid visits to North Vietnam during the Vietnam War to discuss Soviet-Vietnamese foreign relations. In 1973, Podgorny visited Finland and Mohammed Daoud Khan's Afghanistan.
  Brezhnev conspired to oust Podgorny as early as 1970. The reason was simple: Brezhnev was third, while Podgorny was first in the ranking of Soviet diplomatic protocol. Since September 1970 Brezhnev tried to form an opposition in the Politburo to oust Podgorny. According to Time, "There was some speculation in Moscow" that if Brezhnev didn't succeed in removing Podgorny he would establish a Council of State modelled after institutions found in, for example, East Germany (Staatsrat), People's Republic of Bulgaria and the Socialist Republic of Romania. The post of Chairman of the Council of State would give Brezhnev the top state and party job in the USSR. Brezhnev's backers were unable, and didn't even try, to remove Podgorny from the head of state post at the 1970 Central Committee plenum. Brezhnev could count on only five votes, while another seven Politburo members were opposed to granting Brezhnev more power. Under such circumstances, removing Podgorny would be condemned among the Soviet elite for violating the principle of collective leadership.
caption: In his capacity as head of state, Podgorny (seated right) meets French President Charles de Gaulle (seated left) in Moscow.
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