Word: kryuchkov
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Perestroika has made little headway at the KGB, but the Soviet spies are taking a stab at glasnost. Even though KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov still delivers speeches with Stalinist overtones, his year-old public relations department is busy polishing the agency's image. It has opened a museum at headquarters in Moscow's Dzerzhinsky Square, allows some officers to give interviews and recently ran a Miss KGB contest in which women in bulletproof vests competed in skills like cooking, shooting, dancing, karate and applying makeup...
...awakened by the ringing of the telephone. Gorbachev said Bessmertnykh, Defense Minister Dmitri Yazov and KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov were on their way to the Kremlin and asked me to come too. Then he explained: Several minutes ago, the U.S. Secretary of State had called the Foreign Minister at home and informed him that military action would start in a matter of minutes. Gorbachev asked that Bush be informed urgently of his request that the attack be postponed for a time, so that one more attempt could be made to talk Iraq into announcing its readiness to remove its troops...
...spotlight of glasnost has also 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...
...regiments of paratroops had moved into the Moscow area. "I want an explanation for why they were in uniform, armed with tear gas, bullet-proof clothing and weapons," he said. He also demanded to know why two divisions had been placed under KGB command. KGB chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov called the Deputy's statement "groundless...
Western diplomats think a coup is highly unlikely; the Soviet military has a long tradition of subservience to civilian authority and neither the will nor the unity to break it. But there have in fact been military movements in the Moscow area. Yazov and Kryuchkov have said that many of the troops are helping to bring in the potato harvest, and Western correspondents wandering through potato fields outside Moscow have encountered soldiers who really were digging up spuds. The defense and KGB chiefs, however, also insist that some troops are preparing for the Nov. 7 Revolution Day parade, an assertion...