USSR: GORBACHEV'S PERSONAL ADVISERS

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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP88-00434R000400970007-0
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RIPPUB
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S
Document Page Count: 
8
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
June 8, 2011
Sequence Number: 
7
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Publication Date: 
May 8, 1986
Content Type: 
MEMO
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP88-00434R000400970007-0 25X1 Central Intelligence Agency DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE 8 May 1986 USSR: Gorbachev's Personal Advisers Summary Since assuming power in March 1985, General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev has surrounded himself with a group of five experienced and politically savvy personal advisers. Although he draws on the expertise of many political and economic specialists from government departments and ministries, this personal staff provides him with close policy and administrative support. It is a group that, was handpicked by him with "extraordinary care." Everything we know about Gorbachev's aides suggests that they will play an important role in the formulation and execution of his policies. The five men are substantive specialists with collective expertise in such areas as ideology, economics, Socialist Bloc relations, agriculture, and relations with the West. In addition, they are: This memorandum was prepared by Office of Central Reference. Information available as of 8 May 1986 was used in its preparation. Comments and queries are welcome and may be directed to the Chief, Political. Branch, USSR-EE, OCR, 25X1 25X1 25X1 25X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP88-00434R000400970007-0 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP88-00434R000400970007-0 ? Important CPSU officials in their own right, having been elected to leading Central Committee or Central Auditing Commission posts at the party congress in March. ? Increasingly visible participants in Gorbachev's meetings with foreign and domestic leaders. ? Supporters of most of Gorbachev's known policy views: diplomatic flexibility abroad and political assertiveness, social discipline, and Only one of the five advisers, Viktor Sharapov, is a holdover from the staff of a former general secretary. Valeriy Boldin and Anatoliy Lushchikov had served as aides to Gorbachev before he became General Secretary and have remained on his staff since he assumed power. Gorbachev completed his team by adding Anatoliy Chernyayev and Georgiy Smirnov--two political heavyweights with significant experience in the Central Committee apparatus. Soviet general secretaries have traditionally drawn advice from rrrany quarters. Their most visible source has been the army of political, economic, and foreign policy specialists in the party Central Committee apparatus, government ministries or committees, and academic institutes. Less visible, but highly important, is the small, hand-picked cadre of officers who compose the General Secretary's personal staff. We know from) Western diplomatic observers, from the Brezhnev era to the present, that these aides have both substantive advisory and administrative responsibilities. Retired veteran foreign policy aide Andrey Aleksandrov-Agentov, for example, was frequently seen passing notes to and whispering in the ear of General Secretaries Brezhnev and Chernenko. The duties we have identified include: ? Drafting speeches. ? Accompanying the General Secretary to meetings with foreign delegations or Soviet officials; during these meetings they sometimes interject personal policy views. ? Coordinating and screening material from various Central Committee departments, ministries, and institutes. ? Handling scheduling and logistical arrangements. 25X1 L~.)A I Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP88-00434R000400970007-0 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP88-00434R000400970007-0 appeared at Gorbachev's side in February 1986 (during Gorbachev's meeting in the Kremlin with Senator Edward Kennedy), has replaced retired foreign policy aide Andrey Aleksandrov-Agentov. He is a veteran party specialist on West - rope with some experience in US affairs. Chernyayev was a close associate of Andropov's--their ties may have dated back as far as the early 1960s. He has known-Gorbachev since at least 1972, when they served ten days together on a Chernyayev is slated to act as the head of a new , but as yet unidentified, national security staff that will advise Gorbachev on military , domestic, and foreign policy. The formation of such a security apparatus, which is likely to face strong opposition from entrenched military and foreign policy officials, will probably bring more civilian management into military issues and give Gorbachev a greater personal network for information on military affairs. Considered bright, competent, and hard-working by both Soviet and West European officials with whom he has come into contact, Chernyayev had been a top official in the Central Committee's International Department for over 15 years. From the early 1960s until at least the early 1970s, he headed an elite consultants group or "brain trust" within the department responsible for foreign policy analysis and speechwriting for party leaders. A candidate member of the Central Committee since 1981, Chernyayev was elevated to full membership at the conclusion of the recent party congress on 6 March Because Chernyayev did not openly state or publish his views-?on'-fare ign policy issues during his years as a Central Committee department official, we do not have a firm picture of where he stands in the political spectrum or, consequently, of the kind of advice he' will be offering Gorbachev. Over the years we have seen a few indications that suggest that he has a pragmatic, nonideological orientation: liberal who, despite his official positions, has in the past had many friends on the periphery of the dissident movement. ? In the early 1970s, (Chernyayev advocated increasing the amount of US equipment employed in the development of Soviet industry and advancing computer technology through US assistance--a stance opposed by many conservative elements in the Soviet scientific and foreign trade establishment. ? In the early 1980s, Chernyayev stated concern that Poland would become a bone of contention between the United States and the Soviet Union. He voiced his support for the Polish church as a stabilizing force in the country and advocated treating the Polish unions as worthy and valid rather than attempting to use force against them or ignore them. 25X1 25X1 -11- Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP88-00434R000400970007-0 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP88-00434R000400970007-0 ? In one 1985 meeting he impressed understanding of and apparent sympathy Eurocommunism. with his 25X1 25X1 Soviet relations with socialist countries are the domain of Viktor Sharapov, the one carryover on Gorbachev's inner staff. He appeared frequently at the side of Andropov and later Chernenko and now assists Gorbachev during meetings with the leaders of socialist countries. Sharapov has ties to Andropov and the KGB, experience in the media, and expertise in Asian affairs--an area receiving significant policy attention under Gorbachev. All of these factors, in our view, make him a logical choice for Gorbachev's Central Auditing Commission at the close of the recent party congress on 6 March 1986. 1 Sharapov served as a Pravda correspondent throughout the 1960s and early 1970s in China and Vietnam. While with Pravda, he concentrated on US foreign policy. At least one of his articles during that period--a review of a Soviet book on US foreign policy--displayed a basic understanding of US domestic politics and the foreign policy making process. However, Sharapov never strayed from the standard Soviet anti-American rhetoric concerning US involvement in Vietnam. In 1972 he was coauthor of a book, A People at War--Vietnam Diary 1954-1971, describing US foreign policy in Vietnam and the experiences of the Vietnamese people during the war. Sharapov's position as an aide to Gorbachev on Socialist Bloc affairs is probably due as much to his personal connections as to his expertise. He may have been associated with the KGB since about 1972, and he served as a personal aide to Andropov from about 1976 (when Andropov was still chairman of the KGB) ropov's death in February 1984. In addition, while Andropov was ailing during the last few months of his tenure as General Secretary, only Sharapov and Gorbachev were permitted to see him. Sharapov retained his job as bloc affairs adviser throughout the brief tenure of Konstantin Chernenko. He was elected a member of the Ideology and Social Issues Smirnov may on occasion have suffered politically for his willingness to engage in criticism that is traditionally off limits. In 1970, he complained loudly of unnecessary showiness and "commotion" at the Lenin Jubilee, a major ideological conference, arguing that the main task of party organizers of such functions should be to raise the Andropov named him head of the Institute of Philosophy. Georgiy Smirnov was first identified as Gorbachev's staff adviser for ideology in February 1986. A doctor of philosophical sciences, he has been an outspoken advocate of strong social discipline and of increasing the amount of politically relevant research produced by Soviet social scientists. He is a 30-year veteran of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee. Smirnov eventually achieved the position of first deputy chairman of the department in 1974 and was active there in keeping his contemporaries abreast of important sociological issues and developments. In 1983 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP88-00434R000400970007-0 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP88-00434R000400970007-0 ideological and theoretical level of propaganda and not to simply increase the number of lecturers. Soon after, then General Secretary Brezhnev reportedly blocked his appointment as head of the Institute of Sociological Research--a post for which Smirnov had been a top contender. In 1974, Smirnov also played a key role in preparing a censure of the Belorussian and Moscow city party organizations for neglecting ideological work. The following year he was out of the public view for six months--probably as a result of having offended the powerful first secretaries of those The author of over 100 works on ideology and sociology, Smirnov is nonetheless probably recognized more for his party work than for his scholarship. He was twice rejected as a corresponding member of the Philosophy Department of the USSR Academy of Sciences before being elected in 1981--probably an indication of the uncertainty of his academic reputation. His appointment as director of the Philosophy Institute in 1983 was viewed by some Western observers as an effort to change the emphasis of the institute's work to applied philosophy. At the time of that appointment, Smirnov said that philosophy could and must be applied to practical social problems, noting the reluctance of philosophers to take on practical questions. Gorbachev's selection of Smirnov as a staff aide, in our view, probably stems from Smirnov's political energy and his commitment to an activist policy in increasing social discipline. During recent meetings with Gorbachev, Italian Communist Party officials found Smirnov--who speaks fluent Italian--to be sharp, on top of his brief, and pleasant to deal with. He was elected a candidate member of the Central Committee on 6 March 1986. Economics and Agriculture A longtime journalist and editor of Pravda and an expert in both agriculture and economics, Valeriy Boldin has served as a personal adviser to Gorbachev on economics since 1981 (when Gorbachev was CPSU secretary for agriculture). Boldin, who is a graduate of one of the Soviet Union's leading agricultural institutes and holds a candidate of economic sciences degree, was a leading figure in press commentaries and debates on economic policy while at Pravda. His policy proposals during this time indicate that even then he supported economic reform efforts now endorsed by Gorbachev. Boldin advocated improving pay incentives and bonuses for workers who produced above quota, modernizing equipment, and increasing the use of chemicals and fertilizers in agriculture. He repeatedly condemned inefficiencies in agriculture and in the agriculture procurement organizations. According to a US diplomat, since joining Gorbachev's staff, Boldin has used his contacts with academics and policymakers to act as a go-between for Gorbachev and innovative economic thinkers. In addition, Boldin associates with Gorbachev on a personal as well as professional basis. He was elected a candidate member of the Central Committee on 6 March 1986. Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP88-00434R000400970007-0 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP88-00434R000400970007-0 Agricultural specialist Anatoliy Lushchikov has probably been an aide to Gorbachev since 1978. Their association, however, may have begun many years before that. As a deputy chief of the Central Committee's Agriculture Department from 1966 until 1974, Lushchikov probably had frequent contact with Gorbachev from at least 1970 until 1974--the first years of Gorbachev's tenure as first secretary of Stavropol' Kray, a major agricultural area. In addition, from 1974 until 1978, Lushchikov served as an aide to Fedor Kulakov, Gorbachev's patron and immediate predecessor as a Politburo member and party secretary for agriculture until his death in 1978. As a clear indication of his high political status under Gorbachev, Lushchikov was elected to full Central Committee membership at the recent party congress. -il- Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP88-00434R000400970007-0 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP88-00434R000400970007-0 25X1 Internal Distribution 1 - D/OCR 2 - C/OCR/RS 3 - C/OCR/UE 4 - C/OCR/AN 5 - C/OCR/LE 6 - C/OCR/M&A 7 - C/OCR/LDSD 8 - C/OCR/CSD 9 - C/OCR/POL 10 - C/UE/FAD 11 - C/UE/S&I 12 - DDI (7E44) 13 - C/PDB Staff (7F33) 14 - C/NID Staff (7F33) 15 - C/PES (7E24) 16 - CPAS/ILS (7G50) 17 - NIO/USSR (7E62) 18 - NIO/SP (2E49) 19 - D/SOVA (4E58) 20 - C/SOVA/NIG/DPD (4E65) 21 - C/SOVA/DPD/LP (4E65) 22 - C/D0)E=(3D01) 23 - C/DO/SE)E= (4D0119) 24 - C/FBIS/AG/UE (1016, Key Bldg.) 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