Shelepin probably expected to become First Secretary and "de facto" leader of the USSR when Khrushchev was overthrown. Shelepin occupied a powerful position, controlling the KGB and leading a large hard-line faction within the Party, as well as holding two high-level posts, one in the Council of Ministers as Deputy Prime Minister and one in the central party apparatus as a member of the Secretariat. However, he lacked influence in the military, and was viewed very suspiciously by most Central Committee and Government officials outside his faction, who were well-aware of his ambitions. Alexander Solzhenitsyn suggested that Shelepin had been the choice of the surviving Stalinists, who asked "what had been the point of overthrowing Khrushchev if not to revert to Stalinism?" As far as his own views on the role of Soviet policy went, Shelepin opposed the relaxation of tensions with the United States in foreign affairs, and favored a return to domestic policies that promoted discipline and centralization within the wider Union.