Molotov, Khrushchev and Stalin in summer suits, watching an athletic parade from the Mausoleum in 1936. Sovfoto.

Voroshilov, Molotov, Stalin and Ezhov on the Moscow–Volga canal, 1937. RGAKFD.

Stalin with children Vasily (left), Svetlana (standing) and Yakov (right), with Zhdanov next to Vasily, 1 July 1938. RGASPI.

Party leaders at People’s Meeting of Western Ukraine, 4 October 1939. Front row from left: unknown, Shvernik, Andreev, Molotov, Voroshilov, Stalin, Kalinin, academician Tsitsinov, unknown, Kaganovich, Zhdanov, Malenkov and Khrushchev. RGASPI.

Churchill and Stalin at the Kremlin, 1942. RGASPI.

Molotov signing Soviet–Czech agreement, 1 December 1943. Voroshilov, Kalinin and Stalin in the background. RGASPI.

Zhukov on a white horse at the Victory Parade in Red Square, Moscow, 24 June 1945. Sovfoto.

Stalin at the Potsdam conference, 1945. RIA Novosti.

Team at Kalinin’s funeral, 1946: Beria, Malenkov, Stalin and Molotov (in front), Voznesensky (next row, between Malenkov and Stalin), Kuznetsov (visible behind Voznesensky’s shoulder), Kaganovich (behind, between Stalin and Molotov) and Zhdanov (behind, far right).

At Kuntsevo dacha, 1 October 1947. Front row, from left to right: Kaganovich, Malenkov, Stalin and Zhdanov; (back row) Stalin’s children Vasily and Svetlana, with Poskrebyshev next to Svetlana. RIA Novosti.

Stalin’s coffin, March 1953. Molotov, Voroshilov, Beria and Malenkov at left, Bulganin, Khrushchev, Kaganovich and Mikoyan at right. RGASPI.

Pallbearers at Stalin’s funeral, March 1953. Malenkov at left, Beria at right, with Voroshilov just behind him. Mikoyan and Khrushchev are visible behind at right. RGASPI.

Molotov family, 20 April 1953. (Standing) son-in-law Alexei Nikonov and Polina Zhemchuzhina (photo must have been taken within weeks of her return from exile in Kazakhstan); (seated) daughter Svetlana and her three-year-old daughter Larisa and Molotov. RGAKFD.

Members of the “collective leadership” in China, 1954. Front row: Mikoyan, Ekaterina Furtseva (first secretary of Moscow party), Khrushchev, Bulganin and Shvernik. RIA Novosti.