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Kataev (Vitalii Leonidovich) papers
2002C48
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Title: Vitalii Leonidovich Kataev papers
Date (inclusive): 1966-2001
Collection Number: 2002C48
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
Russian
Physical Description:
20 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize folder
(8.4 Linear Feet)
Abstract: The papers of Vitalii Leonidovich Kataev, Russian engineer, Soviet defense industry official, and adviser to President Mikhail
Gorbachev, include reports, memoranda, correspondence, diaries, notes, meeting and conference materials, electronic documents,
and sound recordings relating to Soviet military policy, the Soviet defense industry, Soviet nuclear weapons, and Soviet participation
in arms limitation negotiations.
Creator:
Kataev, Vitaliĭ Leonidovich, 1932-
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2002.
[Identification of item], Vitalii Leonidovich Kataev papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library &
Archives.
| 1932 October 29 | Born, Perm, Russia |
| 1956 | Graduated from the Kazan Aviation Institute, Russia |
| 1956-1960 | Aviation system designer, senior engineer – Ministry of Aviation Industry, Omsk Aviation Factory, Russia |
| 1960-1974 | Senior Engineer Group, leading designer – specialist on engine system of missiles (strategic missile complexes SS-7, SS-9, SS-17, SS-24, and space complex "Interkosmos"), Ministry of General Engineering, Dnepropetrovsk Southern Factory, Ukraine |
| 1974-1990 | Organizer and member of the interdepartmental working group ("Five") |
| Instructor, head of sector, deputy head of department – curator for creation and production of strategic submarine-launched missile complexes (SS-H-17, SS-H-18, SS-H-20, SS-H-23), CPSU Central Committee, Department of Defense Industry Production, Moscow, Russia | |
| 1990-1992 | Deputy head of the department for state defense and security, part of the apparatus of the president of the USSR |
| 1992 | First deputy to the chief of the state council of the Russian Federation for converting military industry; prepared material for establishing a security council |
| Director-general, Business Center, military-industrial complex | |
| 1997-2001 | Research fellow, Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow; held copyrights and patents on classified subjects |
| 2001 September | Died, Moscow |
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection documents the activities of Vitalii Kataev, who worked as deputy head of Defense and Security on the staff
of the President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. Kataev took a direct part in negotiations on the reduction and limitation
of strategic offensive weapons, conventional armed forces in Europe, space weapons, and the destruction of chemical weapons.
He also worked on limiting underground testing of nuclear weapons, the non-proliferation of missiles and missile technology,
the prevention of dangerous military activities, and the mutual reduction of armed forces on the Soviet-Chinese border, as
well as other defense topics. He covered military and technical cooperation with foreign countries, particularly the supply
of arms and military equipment. Kataev was also an aviation systems designer and chief designer of projects for strategic
ground-based missile complexes and sea-based strategic missiles.
Materials in the collection include documents from the period of the Cold War and early post-Cold War period; computer discs
with working materials from the Cold War period and new technology draft projects; and sound cassettes of interviews of participants
in the Cold War from the Soviet military industrial complex (VPK).
Documents from the period of the Cold War and early post-Cold War period include materials related to the review of problems
in USSR military policy, the preparation of CPSU Central Committee resolutions on military-political issues and issues in
Soviet-American relations, and problems of national security and stability of relations. Additionally, there are retrospective
(beginning from the 1960s) and organizational documents related to the structure of the higher units of analytical work and
preparation of reports regarding military-political problems, directives to Soviet delegations involved in negotiations with
the West (excluding the withdrawal of troops from Warsaw Pact countries), as well as related to the more important problems
in the work of the Interdepartmental Working Group – Piaterka (Group of Five) and of the Commission of the Politburo – the
higher or Big Piaterka.
Papers include scientific-technical, military-technical, and military-political materials for delegations negotiating for
the liquidation of intermediate range missiles (INF negotiations), limiting and reducing strategic missiles, space weapons
and SDI/ABM, "Open Skies," non-proliferation of missiles and missile technology, and the cessation of nuclear testing. The
collection contains extensive material on the liquidation of chemical and biological weapons, the reduction of conventional
arms and armed forces in Europe (CFE), and armed forces along the Soviet-Chinese border. There are also documents on confidence-building
measures and open territories, summit meetings, and military-technical cooperation with Warsaw Pact countries and other countries,
as well as materials which characterize the relationship between individual military political leaders of the USSR and these
issues.
Diaries beginning from 1974 include Kataev's notes made during work in the CPSU Central Committee Defense Industry Department,
in the apparat of the Defense and Security Department of the USSR President (Gorbachev), and as a state advisor of the Russian
Federation on conversion. The diaries include the analysis of technical and organizational problems, descriptions of types
of technology, and tables indicating test results. They also contain transcripts of local meetings on technology, of the Head
Constructors Councils, of the leadership of the IUzhnoe defense plant in Dnepropetrovsk, and of the CPSU Central Committee
and other organs.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Audiotapes
Engineers
Nuclear weapons
Soviet Union -- Military policy
Soviet Union -- Defenses
Arms control