Word: chernenko
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There was no substantiation for any of these stories. However, in private, a few Soviet officials have been freely admitting for quite some time that Chernenko has been "quite seriously" ill. Last week they also began to admit the possibility that Chernenko, like Andropov, might reappear only at his funeral in Red Square. The unofficial grapevine is increasingly specific about the nature of Chernenko's illness. According to both Soviet and East European officials, he is suffering from a heart ailment resulting from emphysema, a pulmonary condition that has possibly been aggravated by pneumonia...
Soviet officials have also begun to murmur the name of the "vacation spot" where Chernenko may be staying. It is the so-called Kremlin Hospital, a heavily guarded facility seven miles northwest of the Kremlin in an exclusive, wooded suburban area known as Kuntsevo. Traffic police who may be KGB men are stationed every quarter-mile along the two-lane road that leads to the heavily guarded hospital, which is nestled among silver birch and oak trees and surrounded by an unpainted, 10-ft.-high cement wall...
President Yuri Andropov, too, was hospitalized for the final six months of his tenure. There was no inkling during that time that Chernenko, a member of the Politburo old guard who had already been passed over once for the leadership, would emerge as the next choice. Many senior diplomats in Moscow, however, think that this time the Politburo may already have made up its mind in favor of the amiable, polished Gorbachev, the youngest member of that organization's young guard, who made a favorable impression on the West during his seven-day trip to Britain last December. Along with...
...most important aspect of Gorbachev's status is that he is simultaneously a member of the Politburo and of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, which runs the country on a day-to-day basis. Only Chernenko and Leadership Hopeful Romanov share that distinction. It is a vitally important one: because of the leadership vacuum created by Chernenko's failing health, the Secretariat now appears to have greater control of the entire Soviet system. ; As "Senior Secretary" in the organization, Gorbachev has been able to increase his sway throughout the bureaucracy and fill the key positions of the institution with...
...office site favored by Gorbachev is symbolic of how authority has flowed away from the center of the regime during Chernenko's waning leadership, which in turn came after the truncated rule of Andropov and the final, enfeebled years of Leonid Brezhnev. Other branches of the Soviet system have also benefited, especially Andrei Gromyko's Foreign Ministry. Gromyko's increased standing in the Politburo under Chernenko has been widely noted, as has his unquestioned command of Soviet foreign policy. For that reason, Gromyko is regarded by some foreign diplomats as a possible candidate for Chernenko's job. Another factor...