In 1931, Kuznetsov was among the workers of the Makeevka plant who went on an internship in the United States, at the Carnegie Institute of Technology.

He held the position until March 1953, at the same time being a member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.

As an official representative of the Soviet Foreign Ministry, Kuznetsov repeatedly met with the Americans, explaining to them the position of the USSR, in every possible way preventing a nuclear war.

Another major achievement of Kuznetsov is the establishment of negotiations with China after the bloody clash on Damansky Island, which threatened to escalate into a full-scale war.

Kuznetsov was engaged in the settlement of the Indo-Pakistani crisis, his diplomatic activity at least temporarily helped to avoid deepening the bloody conflict.

On 10 November, 1982, after the death of Brezhnev, Kuznetsov became the acting Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR until on 16 June, 1983, he was succeeded by Yuri Andropov.

For a long time, Kuznetsov retained the title of the longest-lived Head of State of the USSR, but in 2021 the record was broken by Mikhail Gorbachev.

During his lifetime as a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he had received several high awards and medals, including the Hero of the Socialist Labour twice.