Viktor G. Afanasyev; Was Editor of Pravda

Viktor G. Afanasyev, 70, editor of the Soviet newspaper Pravda from 1976 to 1989. A prominent journalist under Soviet Union leaders from Leonid Brezhnev to Mikhail Gorbachev, Afanasyev was considered chief spokesman, through the influential newspaper, of the Communist Party. Also a deputy in the Soviet parliament, Afanasyev was known as an intellectual, a scholar and a philosopher. He served in the Soviet Army during World War II and was an administrator in education before joining Pravda in 1968. The newspaper’s circulation was 13 million during his tenure as editor. On Sunday in Moscow.