Word: andropov
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...Andropov's absence hints at a leadership crisis...
...Andropov also promised, pending an INF agreement, to put an end "to the deployment of SS-20 missiles in the eastern areas of the U.S.S.R." Chief U.S. Negotiator Paul Nitze and his Soviet counterpart Yuli A. Kvitsinsky tentatively agreed to a similar freeze on Soviet missiles aimed at China and Japan during their now famous and repudiated "walk in the woods" in July 1982. But even then, the deal would have left the Soviets with 90 SS-20s in Soviet Asia; today the figure would...
...officials charged that both new proposals were "too vague" and contained "unacceptable conditions" for agreement. But the Americans cautiously refused to close the door on "certain proposals," like Andropov's offer to measure the European nuclear balance in warheads rather than in launchers. Washington also blasted the Soviets for using the two years of negotiations to "dramatically" increase the number of their SS-20s in Asia and for publicly airing the current proposals in order "to split the allies and their public...
...they pored over Andropov's announcement last week, Western analysts were struck by the manner of its delivery: it came in an interview, rather than in an address made in person by the Soviet leader. Inevitably, there were questions about his physical and political wellbeing. "Where is the man?" asks U.S. Kremlinologist William Hyland. "Is he an apparition?" Andropov has not been seen in public since Aug. 18, and Hyland has noticed an uncharacteristic tendency of Soviet leaders recently to emphasize different aspects of Soviet policy with little apparent coordination. "That's just not the Soviet way," notes...
Whatever his travails, Andropov seems to have sharply limited Soviet options. After last week's ultimatum, Moscow cannot continue the arms talks, at least for a time, without losing considerable prestige. Key U.S. officials believe the Soviet move is an opportunity for the West to see to it that Moscow gets full blame for jeopardizing the arms-control process. They point out that the negotiators routinely take a Christmas-New Year's recess, and expect the Soviets to extend the break for several months. That will give the Soviets time to assess West European reaction and begin their...