Word: brezhnevs
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...guest delegations from 66 countries. The new decorations, however, could not paper over Rumania's deep disputes with the Soviet Union. As a result, the congress turned into an extraordinary confrontation between Rumania's policy of forming ties with the West and Moscow's rigid Brezhnev Doctrine that insists on obedience and conformity among the Soviet Union's East Bloc neighbors...
Opening Swipe. Perhaps out of fear of receiving a less than enthusiastic reception in Bucharest, Soviet Party Boss Leonid Brezhnev stayed home. In his place, Moscow sent a delegate of lesser rank: Konstantin Katushev, party secretary in charge of dealing with foreign ruling parties. At 42, Katushev is, nonetheless, a rapidly rising figure in the Kremlin, and he undertook a spirited rebuttal to Ceauşescu the next day. For openers, he took a rather startling swipe at the "perfidious tactics of 'bridge building' to the West." Its only purpose, he said, is "to drive a wedge between...
After that, Katushev launched into a defense of the Brezhnev Doctrine. Western imperialists, he said, have taken to "openly supporting antisocialist forces and counter-revolutionary plots in Communist countries." The Kremlin, of course, justified its invasion of Czechoslovakia by claiming such threats existed there. And Katushev left little doubt that the Soviets would intervene elsewhere in Eastern Europe for the same reason. Quoting a recent article by Brezhnev, he said: "Our party will spare no effort in order to strengthen the cohesion of the Communist movement and will carry out its international duty...
Russia succeeded in making two things clear in Bucharest. First, though the Kremlin originally reacted to news of Nixon's trip to Rumania with seeming equanimity, Soviet leaders are now thoroughly unhappy about it-probably because it was so successful. Second, the Brezhnev Doctrine has become a fundament of policy, which Russia expects both bloc members and the West to acknowledge, even to the point of clearing presidential visits...
Meanwhile, Czechoslovakia's two top leaders, Party Boss Gustav Husák and President Ludvik Svoboda, are on "vacation" in the Crimea, where they have met with Soviet Party Boss Leonid Brezhnev and President Nikolai Podgorny. In all likelihood, the Russians openly pressed Husák to sign a statement formally approving the invasion; so far, he has stopped just short of doing that. But undoubtedly, they added a final warning that Moscow has ordered Aug. 21 to be a cool...