Word: kgb
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...wielding diplomatic influence as John Paul II. Now that the U.S. has become the 107th nation with which it has diplomatic relations, the Vatican may move to establish ties with the world's other superpower. In spite of a general belief in the Vatican that the Soviet KGB was behind the 1981 shooting of the Holy Father, relations with Moscow are surprisingly good. Józef Cardinal Glemp. Poland's Primate, plans to visit the Soviet Union in a few months. Before he leaves. Vatican sources say, he will meet with John Paul to discuss ways to improve...
...government, especially on military and foreign policy issues (witness the number of demonstrations against Soviet involvement in Afghanistan). Mr. Louis might recall an incident last year when a group of peaceniks trying to organize a rally in Red Square against the arms race were met by a gang of KGB thugs who presumably hauled them off to a state psychiatric institution to undergo treatment for "social deviance," a term used by the Soviet government to label those who get out of step with the Party line...
...position on the ruling Politburo by increasing the number of voting members from eleven to 13, the highest count since October 1982. The two new men, presumed to be Andropov supporters, had been blocked from advancing further in their careers under Leonid Brezhnev. Andropov also promoted an old KGB comrade to candidate membership in the party council and gave greater authority to a like-minded technocrat on the Central Committee Secretariat. Andropov's address to the party plenum conveyed a similar feeling that he was in command. In language not heard since the days of Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet...
...ruling elite, but last week the long-anticipated changes finally began to take shape. Mikhail Solomentsev, 70, a former premier of the Russian Republic, was given a voting position on the Politburo commensurate with his new job on the Party Control Commission. The plenum confirmed the importance of the KGB in inner Kremlin councils by elevating the KGB chief, General Victor Chebrikov, 60, to candidate membership in the Politburo. Yegor Ligachev, 63, a technocrat from Siberia who shares Andropov's concern for economic discipline, was given greater leeway in controlling party personnel appointments, making him one of the most...
...dwindled from 100,000 men in 1979 to about 40,000 today, as soldiers have deserted and civilians have done their best to escape forced conscription drives. To restore discipline in the population, the Soviets have relied more and more on the KhAD, the local version of the KGB. They have also vented their frustration by mounting reprisals against the civilian population. When Soviet convoys are attacked by Afghan rebels, Soviet-led squads now retaliate by burning villages, fields and orchards and sometimes by executing the male inhabitants of nearby villages. Last July Soviet forces shot as many...