Word: chernenko
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After a state funeral for Andropov in Red Square attended by thousands, Chernenko received more than 170 foreign dignitaries amid czarist-era splendor in the Kremlin's Hall of St. George. Unlike his predecessor, who had engaged in reception-line diplomacy following Brezhnev's funeral, Chernenko shook hands stiffly, his face rarely creasing into the smile of the practiced politician. He did not appear to greet such Communist stalwarts as Cuban Leader Fidel Castro or Polish Premier Wojciech Jaruzelski with any more enthusiasm than he greeted Vice President George Bush or British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher...
Whatever personal words Chernenko had were apparently reserved for private sessions, such as the meeting he held with Warsaw Pact leaders. He also conferred with Castro, Afghanistan Party Leader Babrak Karmal and Nicaraguan Junta Coordinator Daniel Ortega Saavedra. Chernenko pointedly snubbed Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat, whose leadership has been challenged by pro-Syrian rebels and who had to watch the funeral from a section reserved for the ambassadors of Western and neutral countries. China's Vice Premier Wan Li, the highest-ranking Chinese leader to set foot in Moscow in more than two decades, was received by Soviet...
Vice President Bush had traveled to Moscow to affirm President Reagan's new commitment to improved superpower relations. He went into his private meeting with Chernenko wearing a tiny lapel pin from the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Trade and Economic Council that showed crossed American and Soviet flags. Bush described his 30-minute chat as "very tempered, very reasonable" and noted that he was returning home "with a certain sense of optimism." According to the Vice President, Chernenko seemed self-assured and responded without using notes. "Mr. Chernenko conducted the meeting without turning from right to left for assistance," said Bush...
When asked if the White House was pressing for a summit with the new Soviet leader, Bush would say only that the personal letter from the President, typed in English, that he had handed to Chernenko made no mention of "a date or specifics for a meeting." Meanwhile, Reagan, who had visited the Soviet embassy in Washington on Monday to sign a book of condolences, was more outspoken in dampening speculation about a superpower summit. In a newspaper interview, he opposed the notion of a "get-acquainted" summit. Said the President: "You should have an agenda to have such...
French Premier Pierre Mauroy came away from his session with Chernenko, whom he had met in Paris two years ago, confident that Soviet-French relations were on the mend. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl had the feeling that the new Soviet leadership was "weighing its words." Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau saw hope in the fact that "there was a repetition of the use of the word détente and a real continuity with the Brezhnev spirit." But Chernenko gave Western leaders no hint that the Soviet Union was about to change its position on the new NATO missiles...