This was the beginning of Beria's alliance with Malenkov, which later became of central importance.

Around this time, Malenkov forged a close friendship with Vyacheslav Malyshev, who later became chief of the Soviet nuclear program alongside Kurchatov.

In this work Malenkov became closely associated with Stalin and was later heavily involved in the treason trials during the purging of the party.

In 1939 Malenkov became the head of the Communist party's Cadres Directorate, which gave him control over personnel matters of party bureaucracy.

In February 1941 Malenkov became a candidate member of the Politburo.

Malenkov was appointed Chief of the Soviet Missile program, his first deputy was Dmitri Ustinov, a 33 year-old rocket scientist who later became one of the most powerful Soviet Defense Ministers.

Malenkov supported and executed Stalin's orders to destroy the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee which was formed during World War II and became involved in documenting the Holocaust.

After the ruthless attack on Georgy Zhukov, Malenkov gained strength and became closer with Stalin and several other top communists.

That same year, Malenkov became a Secretary of the Central Committee.

He was the top member of the Secretariat and, with Beria's support, Malenkov became Premier of the Soviet Union.

Malenkov in his later years became a devout Russian Orthodox Christian, as did his daughter, who has since spent part of her personal wealth building two churches in rural locations.

In 1949 Suslov became a member, along with Georgy Malenkov, Lavrentiy Beria, and Lazar Kaganovich, of a commission created to investigate charges levied against Moscow's local Communist Party First Secretary, Georgy Popov.

* Malenkov became director of a hydroelectric plant in Kazakhstan

Khrushchev and Malenkov became leaders of the Soviet Communist Party.

The struggle for succession became a contest between Beria ( the feared leader of the NKVD ), Malenkov and Khrushcev.

Malenkov also became First Secretary of the Party ( as the position of General Secretary was now known ) but had to relinquish that position and leave the party Secretariat on March 14, 1953 in the name of collective leadership due to the dissatisfaction of others in the leadership with Malenkov's assumption of both leadership roles.

Khrushchev became First Secretary in September, 1953 ushering in a period in which Malenkov and Khrushchev shared power.

Malenkov succeeded Stalin as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, but failed to take total control over the party machinery

When Stalin died on 5 March 1953, Georgy Malenkov, a Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers succeeded him as Chairman and as the de facto leading figure of the Presidium ( the renamed Politburo ).

The official explanation for his resignation was " to grant the request of Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers G. M. Malenkov to be released from the duties of the Party Central Committee ".

Malenkov, while losing his secretaryship, was still Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and remained so until 1955.

By August 1954 Malenkov's role as de facto head of government was over ; Nikolai Bulganin began signing Council of Ministers decrees ( a right beholden to the Chairman ) and the Presidium gave in to Khrushchev's wishes to replace Malenkov.

Malenkov spoke twice to the plenum, but it failed to alter his position, and on 8 March 1955 he was forced to resign from his post as Chairman of the Council of Ministers ; he was succeeded by Nikolai Bulganin, a protege of Khrushchev dating back to the 1930s.

Stalin's death on 5 March 1953 prompted major changes in the Soviet leadership and in March 1953, Voroshilov was approved as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet ( i. e., the head of state ) with Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary of the Communist Party and Georgy Malenkov as Premier of the Soviet Union.

At the meeting of the Presidium's inner bureau held immediately after Stalin's death, Beria proposed Malenkov as Chairman of the Council of Ministers ( or Premier ).

Malenkov was assured an identical policy in government institutions ; the most notable change being the appointment of Mikhail Pervukhin, Ivan Tevosian and Maksim Saburov to the Deputy Chairmanship of the Council of Ministers.

A power struggle between Malenkov and Khrushchev began, and on 14 March Malenkov was forced to resign from the Secretariat.

Khrushchev was able to consolidate his powers within the party machine after Malenkov's resignation, but Malenkov remained the de facto leading figure of the Party.

Beria was defeated at the next Presidium plenums by a majority against him, and not long after, Khrushchev and Malenkov started to plan Beria's fall from power.

With new acquired powers, Khrushchev was able to appoint associates to the leadership in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Armenia and Moldavia ( modern Moldova ), while Malenkov, in contrast, was able to appoint an associate to leadership only in Moscow.

Malenkov was called of revisionism because of his wishes to prioritise light industry over heavy industry.

At the same time, Malenkov was accused of being involved in the Leningrad Affair which led to the deaths of innocent party officials.

He was briefly a part of the ruling " troika " with Georgy Malenkov and Vyacheslav Molotov.

Sebag-Montefiore does not dispute the possibility of an assassination by poison masterminded by Beria, whose hatred for Stalin was palpable by this point, but also notes that Beria never made mention of poison or confessed to using it, even during his later interrogations, and was never alone with Stalin during the period prior to his stroke ( he always went with Malenkov to defer suspicion ).

His close ally Malenkov was the new Prime Minister and initially the most powerful man in the post-Stalin leadership.

Khrushchev opposed the alliance between Beria and Malenkov, but he was initially unable to challenge them.

When Beria finally realized what was happening and plaintively appealed to Malenkov to speak for him, his old friend and crony silently hung his head and refused to meet his gaze.

A Troika was established immediately after Stalin's death, consisting of Malenkov, Beria, and Molotov, but ended when Malenkov and Molotov deceived Beria.

* 13 March – 26 June 1953: After the death of Joseph Stalin power was shared between Lavrenty Beria, Georgy Malenkov, and Vyacheslav Molotov.

Malenkov was forced to resign, in February 1955, after he came under attack for abuse of power and his close connection to Beria ( who was executed as a traitor in December 1953 ).

However, after several sharp political attacks by Nikita Khrushchev during the year 1953 Malenkov had to resign from the Secretariat, because Khrushchev was supported by other members of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee.