Grigory V. Romanov (born 1923) was a Soviet Politburo member and chief rival to Mikhael Gorbachev in the succession struggle following the death of Konstantin Chernenko. A soldier in the Red Army during World War II and a designer in a shipyard, Romanov joined the Communist Party in 1944 and eventually rose to be the chief of the Communist Party in Leningrad. He became a candidate member of the Politburo in 1973 and a full member in 1976. The second youngest member of the Soviet leadership after Gorbachev, Romanov was the candidate of the old guard for the position of General Secretary but was unable to defeat Gorbachev for the position. It has been alleged that Romanov and two of his supporters in the Politburo were out of town and not informed of the emergency meeting held to elect Chernenko's successor and that had they been present Romanov would have had enough votes to either become the new Soviet leader or block Gorbachev from attaining the position. Other accounts claim that Romanov was at the meeting but nominated Viktor Grishin for General Secretary in hopes of stopping Gorbachev.
He was dropped from the Politburo three months after Gorbachev became General Secretary in March 1985.
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