USSR: GORBACHEV'S PERSONAL ADVISERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-00434R000400970007-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 8, 2011
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: May 8, 1986
• Content Type: MEMO

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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,
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? 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.
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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.
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? In one 1985 meeting he impressed
understanding of and apparent sympathy Eurocommunism.
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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
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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.
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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.
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