Word: ustinov
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...representative of the one sector in Soviet life that appears to work, Ustinov, 75, may have the best qualifications for the party's top job. During Andropov's decline, Ustinov had already moved to the forefront to enunciate official policy on arms control and Soviet missile deployment in Eastern Europe. A mechanical engineer who spent most of his career building up the defense industry, Ustinov is keenly aware of the chronic bottlenecks in Soviet production that have accounted for sluggish economic growth. Should the ruling elite feel nervous about turning the Soviet Union's pressing agenda of problems over...
...steady rise of the Soviet military Establishment over the past decade has enhanced Ustinov's power, it may ultimately keep him from becoming party leader. Ustinov does not currently have a foothold in the Secretariat. Indeed, the aging defense planner may be too closely linked to the military for the comfort of many party bureaucrats. Says Daniel Papp of the Georgia Institute of Technology: "Some people will oppose Ustinov for precisely the same reason that others will support him, because of his strong identification with the military-industrial complex of the Soviet Union...
...army general's uniform in the closet. But if the late Soviet leader gave every appearance of being a civilian, his ties to the military Establishment came under increasing scrutiny during his brief tenure. Andropov, it was believed, owed a debt to the military because Defense Minister Dmitri Ustinov had backed him in the race to succeed Brezhnev. In what many saw as a disquieting sign of the brass hats' growing power, it was the military's Chief of Staff, Nikolai Ogarkov, who stepped forward to explain the Soviet decision to shoot down Korean Air Line Flight...
...highest levels, the sprawling Soviet military narrows into a streamlined chain of command. Directly under Minister of Defense Dmitri Ustinov, a member of the top-secret Defense Council headed by Andropov, are Viktor Kulikov, commander in chief of the Warsaw Pact forces, and Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Ogarkov. The commanders of the Soviet services take their orders from Ogarkov...
...counted as personal triumphs for Andropov is another question. The push to pump younger blood into the aging body politic during Andropov's time in power would certainly have promoted the interests of his supporters throughout the security services and the military. Indeed, Defense Minister Dmitri Ustinov was believed to have been instrumental in helping Andropov secure the top party post. But if the late Soviet leader made some moves to shake up the party, he did nothing to challenge a defense establishment grown so large under Brezhnev that no one man could control...