Word: romanov
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Once again, surprise was in the air in Moscow. For the second time in two months, the increasingly confident new Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, last week shook the Kremlin with a dramatic burst of changes at the top. Grigory Romanov, the man who some Western analysts believe had been Gorbachev's rival for the Communist Party leadership before the General Secretary's March 11 accession, was unceremoniously dropped from the ruling Politburo. One of the oldest and most familiar Kremlin figures of all, Andrei Gromyko, who has been his country's Foreign Minister for the past 28 years, was raised...
...round of shuffles displayed a combination of determination and political virtuosity that promises to make him a formidable summiteer come November (see box). The first of his moves was made public in a one-sentence announcement following a closed-door meeting of the Communist Party's Central Committee. Romanov, 62, onetime Leningrad party chief and overseer of the Soviet Union's military- industrial complex, had been "relieved of his duties" on the Politburo "in connection with retirement on health grounds." The change was not unexpected. There had been rumors that Romanov is being treated for alcoholism in a sanatorium...
...figure" and also, significantly, as "one of the oldest party members." Then came the second part of Gorbachev's surprise. Gromyko's replacement as Soviet Foreign Minister would be Shevardnadze, 57, the vigorous, innovative Georgian who had been named to full Politburo membership only the previous day, filling the Romanov vacancy...
...Romanov's ouster seems to be a case in point. Before Gorbachev's selection as General Secretary, Romanov was regarded by many Kremlinologists as a serious contender for the leadership. According to some reports, Romanov led the opposition to Gorbachev inside the Politburo by nominating another Old Guardsman, Moscow Party Chief Viktor Grishin, 70, as a candidate for General Secretary...
...Romanov has been the subject of a growing rumor campaign in Moscow. Stories were told with increasing openness about his supposed arrogance, ostentation and hard drinking. Such traits are sharply at variance with the image that Gorbachev is trying to develop as a reformer with a popular, man-in-the- factory style and as a campaigner against alcoholism. Says a Soviet academic: "Romanov had himself driven around Leningrad in an eight-car motorcade, disrupting traffic and annoying people...