Valentin Mikhaylovich Falin is a former Soviet diplomat and politician. Born in Leningrad he graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1950. From 1951 to 1958 he worked at the USSR Foreign Ministry. From 1971 to 78 he was the Ambassador of the USSR to the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1978 he was appointed First Deputy Chief of the International Information Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU. From 1982 ? 86 he was a political observer in the newspaper Izvestia. On March 10, 1986, Falin was elected by the Council of Sponsors of the Novosti Press Agency to the position of chairman of the APN board. In 1989-1991 he was the Chairman of International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It has been reported that in 1991 shortly after the August Coup investigators found $600,000 in his office. [More at Wikipedia]

April 3rd, 1926 in Saint Petersburg  /  Died:   Feb 22nd, 2018