Word: gorbachevized
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Choosing Pugo may have seemed like a sop to restless conservatives, but appointing General Boris Gromov as Deputy Interior Minister showed that Gorbachev intends to put military muscle behind his calls for law-and-order. Gromov, who commanded the last contingent of Soviet forces to leave Afghanistan, has figured prominently at times in rumors that the military was plotting a coup. Gromov has denied the possibility of such a move, and he downplayed suggestions that his combat experience alone earned him his new job. But the connection was too evident to ignore. "Gromov is a reliable trigger puller," says William...
Gromov's appointment was widely viewed as a means of giving the army influence in the Interior Ministry. Under Gorbachev, the once celebrated army has become the target of radical nationalists in outlying republics and the whipping boy of a newly sensational and aggressive press. Defense Minister Dimitri Yazov has denounced the spate of attacks on soldiers, and grimly declared that servicemen were authorized to open fire in self-defense. Said Yazov: "The army will not allow anyone to mock...
...penetrated the KGB under its chairman, Vladimir Kryuchkov. Public testimonials by past and present agents detailing the KGB's corruption and oppression have tarnished the organization's already poor image. But having the KGB oversee the distribution of vital food supplies in a time of chronic shortages suggests that Gorbachev still considers it the most efficient and loyal institution at his disposal...
While Soviets of all political persuasions agree on the need to curb the country's soaring crime rate and to attack the burgeoning black market, Gorbachev's new embrace of the military and KGB has particularly alarmed ^ radical reformers. "Gorbachev is willing to use any source he can find right now to help him regain the power he has lost," says Andranik Migranyan, a Moscow political scientist. "But if he allows the right to consolidate, he will only create more serious obstacles in the path leading to democracy and a market economy...
...past performance is any indication, Gorbachev may be swinging to the right only to lull conservatives into complacency before swinging back toward the middle. TASS political analyst Andrei Orlov explained Gorbachev's recent behavior as "a carefully hatched multistep maneuver aimed at changing the alignment of political forces in ((his)) favor...