Zhuravlev, Mikhail Ivanovich

(1911–1976)

   After a career in the Red Army and the Komsomol, Zhuravlev was transferred laterally to a senior post in the NKVD following the Yezhovshchina. Zhuravlev had a seemingly unspectacular career in Lavrenty Beria’s service as a manager of major forced labor camp institutions, including those responsible for work on the Soviet nuclear weapons program, for which Zhuravlev played a crucial role. He was one of a handful of NKVD officers directly involved in the program. Zhuravlev was promoted to lieutenant general in 1945 and for several years was in charge of the economic directorate of the MGB and the MVD. In 1956 he left the security service to work in the Ministry of Medium Machine Building, which was responsible for building and testing nuclear weapons.