 Podgorny 's removal from office in 1977 has become the most notable example of power transfer in the late Brezhnev Era . According to Robert Vincent Daniels , Podgorny was before his removal the second most powerful man in the Soviet Union , behind Brezhnev but ahead of Premier Kosygin . The post of Chairman of the Presidium had acquired more powers during his tenure , and had changed from a largely honorary office to the second most important office in the USSR . Though there were some Sovietologists who foresaw Podgorny 's fall , the decision to remove Podgorny from the Politburo took the world by surprise . On 24 May 1977 , a unanimous vote was taken by the Central Committee after Grigory Romanov proposed removing Podgorny from the Politburo . The vote seemed to have taken Podgorny by surprise , and immediately after the vote , he got up from his politburo seat to instead sit with the ordinary members . The Central Committee had however only voted him off the Politburo , and Podgorny still retained the position of Chairman of the Presidium . After his removal from the Politburo Podgorny 's name disappeared from Soviet media . The Soviet media told the Soviet people that he had retired due to his stance against détente and producing more consumer goods . Podgorny finally lost his Chairmanship of the Presidium on 16 June 1977 . 
