Gennady Yanayev

Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev was a Soviet politician and disputed President of the Soviet Union for three days. Yanayev's political career spanned the rules of Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko and culminated during the Mikhail Gorbachev years. Yanayev was born in Perevoz, Gorky Oblast. After years in local politics, he rose to prominence as Chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, but he also held other lesser posts such as deputy of the Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries.