Alexei Kosygin, Russian soldier and politician, 8th Premier of the Soviet Union (born 1904)

Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin was a Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1964 to 1980 and initially led the Soviet Union as part of a triumvirate in the mid-to-late 1960s.

The Premier of the Soviet Union was the head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). From 1923 to 1946, the name of the office was Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, and from 1946 to 1991 its name was Chairman of the Council of Ministers. During the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, its name was briefly Prime Minister and later Chairman of the Committee on the Operational Management of the Soviet Economy. The first Soviet premier was the country's founder and first leader, Vladimir Lenin. After 1924, when General Secretary of the Communist Party Joseph Stalin rose to power, the de facto leader was the party's General Secretary, with Stalin and his successor Nikita Khrushchev also serving as premier. Twelve individuals held the post.