Word: grechko
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Grechko had died suddenly and unexpectedly at 72 in Moscow of an apparent heart attack. After lying in state for 24 hours, he was interred in the Kremlin wall, the burial spot for Soviet heroes. Grechko had been the chief mover in Russia's shift over the past decade from a primarily defensive military machine built around big, nuclear-tipped missiles to the balanced, varied -and growing-land, air and sea force that now gives sleepless nights to NATO planners, and has become an issue in the U.S. presidential campaign...
After he became Defense Minister in 1967, Grechko presided over the program of rapid diversification and modernization that catapulted Soviet forces into a situation of overall near parity with the U.S. He reorganized the officer corps, introduced advanced technology to the armored forces, and successfully tested new conventional weapons -notably air defense missiles-in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Probably the Grechko achievement that worried Western commanders most was the strengthening and integration of Warsaw Pact forces...
...Grechko Fresco. In Western capitals, the bear-size Grechko (6 ft. 2 in., 220 lbs.) was usually regarded as an archfoe of détente and disarmament. Although his precise role in the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia has long been a matter of debate, many East Europeans are persuaded that he played a decisive part. Grechko apparently argued that Czech Party Chief Alexander Dubček's political liberalization program was unacceptable from Moscow's point of view and that only a military intervention would keep the country in the Communist orbit. Even today the bullet-riddled...
...many analysts of Soviet affairs believe that later, Grechko-bending with the diplomatic winds-did not oppose a relaxation of tensions with the West. In 1973, when détente had begun in earnest, Grechko was brought into the Politburo by Party Boss Leonid Brezhnev-a rare honor for any military man. Grechko's appointment was probably intended to reassure Moscow's hawkish factions, but observers believe that Grechko was all along a strong supporter of Brezhnev's policies, including détente...
Died. Marshal Andrei Antonovich Grechko, 72, towering Soviet Minister of Defense and a member of the Politburo; of an apparent heart attack; in Moscow (see THE WORLD...