Word: andropov
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...ANDROPOV by Zhores A. Medvedev; Norton; 227pages...
...world knew very little about former KGB Chief Yuri Andropov when ic succeeded Leonid Brezhnev as General Secretary of the Soviet Union's Communist Party last November. Almost immediately, a gaggle of professional and amateur Kremlinologists scrambled to fill the information gap. Thus far all but one of their books have been either disappointingly speculative or based on stale data. The exception is this lively and provocative portrait by Zhores Medvedev, an exiled Soviet scientist living in London. Medvedev, 57, relied in part on the scholarly skills and resources of his twin brother, Roy Medvedev, who has remained...
Zhores Medvedev portrays Andropov as an austere, highly intelligent operator whose key weapon in his battle for Kremlin supremacy was the KGB he headed for 15 years. Andropov and his supporters relied on the intelligence agency to discredit the ailing Brezhnev, his family and network of associates. The Andropov aim was to pressure Brezhnev into resigning while besmirching potential rivals from the party chiefs camp...
...some signs, however slight, of an increased pace in the dialogue with Moscow. Last week both countries signed a multiyear grain pact, and the U.S. ended its restrictions on the sale of pipelaying tractors to the Soviets. Most intriguing of all was an offer from Soviet Leader Yuri Andropov. He seemed to suggest, for the first time, that the Soviets might now be willing to destroy 81 of their 243 SS-20s in Europe so as to equal the number of British and French missiles targeted at the Soviet Union. He said the U.S.S.R. "would liquidate all the missiles...
Even if the latest Andropov statement means what it seems to, it will hardly bridge the gap between the superpowers' positions in Geneva, since the U.S. refuses to count the British and French nuclear forces in the INF talks and since the Soviets are making their offer contingent upon the cancellation of all new Pershing II and cruise missile deployment. Moscow's central purpose is almost surely to impress West Europeans with its flexibility and thus to encourage opposition to the installation of those new American missiles, due to start later this year...