Igor Kirilov, The "Face Of The Soviet Union," Died At The Age Of 89.

With his trademark - slowly and calmly - he told the audience about the first satellite in space and distributed Communist Party communiqués. He also directed all major Soviet events: from parades on Moscow's Red Square to communist congresses. In 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed.

Chronology of the Soviet Union

Positive stories dominated the Soviet bulletin. In front of pictures of harvesters walking in the fields, Igor Kirilov declares the wheat harvest a victory every year.

But does he think so?

"The hardest thing for me is believing what I read," Igor Kirilov told me in a 2011 interview. "I know deep down that the lyrics contain half-truths. But as a newsreader, you have to make sure that it is the whole truth. And I did. I believe that we are building communism. Life is getting better. I was able to overcome the doubts I had. If I don't have it, I can't do my job."

The news is not always good.

In the 1980s, Soviet leaders had a bad habit of dying quickly. It was the gloomy Igor Kirilov who informed the state of his death. It happened so often that it sparked this famous Soviet joke: Igor Kirilov appeared in a black tie and declared: "Comrades, you will laugh, but another irreplaceable leader must be replaced." He has been trained as an actor. So how did he get into television?

Journalists "read too fast."

"I play guitar and sing during interviews," he told me. "Then they asked me to read something. Luckily, I had memorized the Pravda newspaper the night before. So I read it straight in my head. Then, when I left the building, the boss stopped me. 'Where are you going?' he says. "You have work, and you'll be on the air in two hours."

Communist leaders have other jobs. He presented the Soviet television version of Top of the Pops. He's a little more Lenin than Paul McCartney. In 1985, with a bit of help from Sting, whose Russian hit began with the voice of Igor Kirilov reading the news, he made it to the top of the world charts.

In the late 1980s, television news changed all over the world. Journalists replace professional broadcasters as newsreaders. The Soviet Union was no exception. Soviet Television updated its evening news. Journalists come in; commentators go out. In 1990, during the school year in Moscow, I interviewed Igor Kirilov about a university project. The most famous spokesman in the USSR was going through a difficult time.

"I've been reading Vremya's evening news for 20 years," he told me. "Now they choose not to use the dictionary. He now has a condescending and condescending attitude towards broadcasters." He considered the journalists who were moderators to spread the news too quickly. "Russians don't like to talk fast. They have their way of speaking: calm, unhurried, discreet. "When TV news goes in one ear and out in the other, our heads go blank."