Mikhail Gorbachev erode Gromyko's dominance of Soviet foreign policy while at the same time sending a signal to the U.S. government that he wanted to improve Soviet-U.S. relations. On 11 March 1985, Chernenko died. Gromyko proposed Gorbachev as the next General-Secretary; as a longstanding party member, Gromyko's recommendation carried great weight among the Central Committee. Gorbachev expected much opposition to his nomination as Chernenko's successor, but ultimately the rest of the Politburo supported him. Shortly after Chernenko's death, the Politburo unanimously elected Gorbachev as his successor; they wanted him over another elderly leader. Although not a well-known figure to the Soviet public,
Yuri Gorbachev is not the first time Yuri Gorbachev has worked with Stolichnaya. In 1994, “Stolichnaya” commissioned Gorbachev to design their annual Christmas “Holiday” advertisement, which appeared in hundreds of magazines around the world including Art & Antiques, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Time, American Photo, W, GQ, Elle among others. It was so successful that every year for the next four years he was commissioned to do a new image for the Holiday ad. Michel Roux, art collector and President of Carillon Importers, Inc. (distributor of Absolut and Stolichnaya vodka) was the person behind the creative advertising of Stolichnaya and Absolut. He used