One often describes USSR in ethnic terms, as Russian domination over other nations (many of which later became independent states). While the USSR certainly practiced ethnic policies (such as discrimination of Jews, population transfers, etc.), was there really ethnic profiling in terms of access to the higher power levels? More specifically, was it discriminative towards other Slavs, such Ukrainians or Belorussians?
There was obviously great diversity in early period (E.g., Trotsky was jew, Dzerzhinsky was Polish, Stalin was Georgian), so I am mainly interested in the post-Stalin period.
I checked that
- Khrushchev was Russian, although he spent much time living in Ukraine
- Brezhnev was of Russian origin, although born in Ukraine
- Andropov was half-cossack (i.e. essentially Ukrainian) and half-Jewish (which he kept secret)
- Shevarnadze (late Soviet minister of foreign affairs and then a president of independent Georgia) was Georgian
I am however more interested in overall composition of the Soviet government and whether there was any deliberate ethnic profiling to favor ethnic Russians.
