Word: romanov
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Gorbachev is now increasing the pressure on some of the remaining gerontocrats in that body to retire. Most prominent among them may be Premier Nikolai Tikhonov, 80, who oversees all the ministers excoriated by Gorbachev. Kremlinologists noted the absence at last week's criticism session of Politburo Member Grigory Romanov, 62, once considered by some Western analysts as a contender for the party leadership. It was the second time recently that Romanov had failed to appear for a major Gorbachev speech. The abrasive former Leningrad party chief is officially said to be on vacation; most Kremlin analysts consider that explanation...
...interesting as Romanov's disappearance was the sudden "reappearance" in print of the former Chief of the Soviet General Staff, Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov, 67. Ogarkov had not been heard from since September 1984, when he was abruptly transferred from his top job in Moscow to the U.S.S.R.'s western military headquarters in Minsk. There was widespread speculation that Ogarkov had clashed with the Kremlin's leadership over military policy. Last week History Teaches Vigilance, a 96-page booklet written by Ogarkov on Soviet defense strategy, was published by the Defense Ministry. Its publication, a foreign diplomat in Moscow theorized, means...
...four, all members of the Politburo, are Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, 75, Heavy Industry Boss Grigori Romanov, 62, Premier of the Russian Republic Vitali Vorotnikov, 59, and First Deputy Premier Geidar Aliyev, 61. They will probably form the core of the collective leadership that will guide Gorbachev in the beginning. With the exception of Gromyko, a full member of the Politburo for twelve years, they are Gorbachev's contemporaries, members of the long-awaited new generation of Soviet leaders. The generational distinction may mean less in the future than it has in the past, however, largely because Gorbachev shrewdly deferred...
...last year's Supreme Soviet session, Gorbachev spent a good deal of time whispering to former Leningrad Party Boss Romanov. The man in charge of heavy industry, which includes defense plants, Romanov is considered a hardliner of the sort favored by the military. He was widely rumored to be a candidate for Defense Minister when the job opened up last year with the death of Dmitri Ustinov, but instead Marshal Sergei Sokolov was chosen. Should the reportedly ailing Sokolov retire or die, Romanov could become the next Defense Minister...
...Romanov possesses an abrasive personal style, usually directed at underlings. Members of a U.S. Senate group that met with him in Leningrad in 1978 were shocked at his surly treatment of an interpreter. There is also a scandal in his past: he has been dogged by stories that he borrowed priceless china from Leningrad's Hermitage museum for a daughter's wedding reception and that some pieces were broken. But he is a realist in politics. "Romanov has a controversial reputation, but he will remain a loyalist unless Gorbachev makes a major mistake," says Simes...