BREZHNEV: THE FINAL DAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100740015-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 18, 2010
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: April 12, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/18: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100740015-5
.C Il .i... GAL' ri s. ur
Vii F AGZ
INTERNATIONAL
rezrzhOnev.,
F or months the approaching end has
been written in his face: the drawn ex-
pression, the distant gaze, the eyes empty of
the strength that has animated and driven
the Soviet Union for the past eighteen years.
Now it seems all but certain that the politi-
cal career of Leonid Brezhnev is entering its
final days. Moscow churned last week with
rumors that Brezhnev was lying ill at home
or in a hospital. The swirl of gossip and
sightings ran to a mysterious plane flight
from Tashkent, a canceled diplomatic visit
and some rough jockeying in the Politburo.
Beyond that, there was an unsettling si-
lence-and no other sign of The Leader.
As was truein the twilight years ofJoseph
Stalin and Chairman Mao, the true state of
Brezhnev's health was one of the world's
best kept secrets. But NEWSWEEK has
learned that a ten- a e U.S. intelligence
document re rts t at Brez nev suffered a
very serious" stroke in Tashkent two
wee s ago and is now in a Moscow hilos
ere _ rt concludes that even rezhnev
survives his ordeal, he will be unable to hold
NEWWS:1~EIC
12 APRIL 1982
e V;1- in 27zl
`Desperate Situation : Even if Brezhnev ; night Brezhnev returned from Tashkent,
does struggle back, it is hard to see how he., two black ZIL limousines pulled up_ to a
can effectively run the Soviet Union for special hospital on Granovsky Street near
long. His decline leaves the country facing a the Kremlin, where Politburo members fre-
d
b
d
f
i
istur
ing per
o
o
instability. Brezhnev
does nothave a natural successor in waiting.
The Soviets are overextended in Afghani-
stan and Poland and in lesser adventures in
the troubled Third World. Compounding:
those uncertainties, a growing economic
crisis now tugs at the Soviet Union and most
of its Eastern European satellites. "They're
in a more desperate situation than I had
assumed," observed Ronald Reagan in his
press conference last week. For a time a
succession crisis could force Soviet leaders
to focus their energies and attentions on the
home front. But there were also worries that
a Soviet Union weakened or off balance
could well turn more aggressive.
The rumors of Brezhnev's collapse began
two weeks ago after the Soviet leader made
a taxing four-day visit to Tashkent in
Uzbekistan. When Soviet television and
newspapers failed to carry the customary
photographs of Brezhnev's return to Mos- 1
of
onto power for o as General Secretary
t e oy et Communist lsarry a-,' Pres~ dent
oft-ha Soviet Union. a need to prepare for
Brez_ nev's succession, the report says,
prompted leaders to postpone a n-
tra Committee meeting scheduled for last
week until late May. The report also pro-
diets that Brezhnev will resign his posts at
the May meeting. There are already numer- i
ous sus that a shadowy battle or- Me sue
cession has begun among a_groPolit-
-
el
buro members 'who are still- A
u own in the West (page 33)..`"They are
going to use the Central Committee to make
the succession look like a democratic
.
.
.
,
Other sources were a good deal more
guarded. They said doctors were still not
sure whether Brezhnev had actually suf-
fered a mild stroke or a transient prestroke
condition called "spasms of the cerebral
vessels." They were hoping that the second,
less serious, diagnosis was correct. If so,
Brezhnev could reappear within a- few
weeks. "It is not a matter of life or death
yet," said one Soviet insider, who suggested
Brezhnev may be under treatment at his
well-equipped sickroom at home"rather
than in the hospital. . j
official
" said one U
S
choice
With his health
faltering and his
career drawing to an
end, the Kremlin's.
power struggle begins
cow, word spread quickly that he had been
hospitalized. Suspicions deepened when a
scheduled visit to the Kremlin by South
Yemen's President Ali Nasir Muhammad
was abruptly canceled. According to one
report, Brezhnev had suffered a stroke at
the airport in Tashkent; his aides had to lift
him on to theplane and later carried him on
a stretcher to a Moscow hospital. The un-
confirmed report also said that Brezhnev's
family had gathered around his hospital bed
and that the atmosphere was "like a wake."
Predictably, Soviet officials refused to
comment on the reports. But Brezhnev's
personal physician, Yevgeny Chazov, can-
celed a scheduled trip to England. On the
quently go for treatment. (ZIL's are the
official vehicles of Politburo members, and
Brezhnev's is the only motorcade that in-
cludes two ZIL's.) Normally, traffic signs
discreetly steer unauthorized cars away
from Granovsky Street where some senior
Moscow officials. live, while a policeman
patrols the corner. Last week a metal barrier
blocked off the street. "Dangerous Zone,"
warned a sign-although there was no haz-
ardous construction work in sight.
By all accounts, Brezhnev's health has
been declining for years. There have been
repeated unconfirmed reports that he re-
ceives injections for a nerve affliction in his
jaw, requires blood transfusions for a mild
form of leukemia and wears a, pacemaker.
He is also reported to have taken regular
medication for a heart condition and has
apparently had several heart spasms-the
latest in February. At a trade-union con-
gress shortly after the latest attack, Brezh-
nev repeatedly halted working sessions for
unscheduled breaks-apparently so he
could rest and get-medical help. He was also
reportedly looking frail and distracted
when he met a Finnish delegation at the
Kremlin last month. During a'90-minute
talk with Finnish President Mauno Koi-
visto, Brezhnev was able to focus on the
discussion only for the first half hour.
Hearing Aid: In recent months signs of
Brezhnev's deterioration have also shown
up with startling frequency in public. When
a group of Soviet leaders went to the Mos-
cowArtTheaterlast month to see "Thus We' l
Shall Triumph," a play about Lenin's twi-
light
years, Brezhnev had problems ------
hearing aid. Like many people with hearing
problems, he reacted by speaking in an ab-
C?NTMUE.Q
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/18: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100740015-5
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