 At the 19th Party Congress in 1952 , Molotov was elected to the replacement for the Politburo , the Presidium , but was not listed among the members of the newly established secret body known as the Bureau of the Presidium ; indicating that he had fallen out of Stalin 's favour . At the 19th Congress , Molotov and Anastas Mikoyan were said by Stalin to have committed grave mistakes , including the publication of a wartime speech by Winston Churchill favourable to the Soviet Union 's wartime efforts . Both Molotov and Mikoyan were falling out of favour rapidly , with Stalin telling Beria , Khrushchev , Malenkov and Nikolai Bulganin that he did not want to see Molotov and Mikoyan around anymore . At his 73rd birthday , Stalin treated both with disgust . In his speech to the 20th Party Congress Khrushchev told the delegates that Stalin had plans for " finishing off " Molotov and Mikoyan in the aftermath of the 19th Congress . 
