Leonid Vasilyevich Smirnov (Russian: Леонид Васильевич Смирнов; 3 April 1916 – 21 December 2001)[1] was a Soviet statesman.
[2][3][4] Smirnov was the son of a worker and was born on 3 April 1916 in Kuznetsk, a town to the west of Samara, Russia, then part of Saratov province but now in Penza Oblast.
[1][3] Whilst studying, he worked from 1933 to 1930 in Novocherkassk, first as a duty electrician and then as an electrical engineering inspector.
[1] Smirnov worked for the Ministry of Armaments of the USSR from 1939 to 1961:[3] As deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers, he was chairman of the Military Industrial Commission (VPK), reporting to Minister of Defence Dmitriy Ustinov.
[3] Smirnov was made a Hero of Socialist Labour,[2] and awarded the Lenin Prize in 1960, three Orders of Lenin, two other orders, and various medals.