BREZHNEV, AGING POWERFULLY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100170137-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 11, 2012
• Sequence Number: 137
• Publication Date: February 10, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100170137-5
ARTICLE LFPlti~:hfD THE WASHINGTON POST
ON PAGE_-D7_ 10 February 1980
,Jack Anderson'
n.ey fully
P ~_ Aging
Biezh
Leonid Brezhnev,' a tired, tough oldl Four years ago, the impatient, ambi-f
walrus, hasn't yet been dislodged from tious younger leaders succeeded in stir--!
thee Soviet- icecap. But he is being:- ring up some mild criticism of Brezh-
ersonality " The CIA.
crowded by the-younger bulls who dare nev's "cult of personality."-
not challenge him segazately but nicked up reports according to ona
threaten him collectively. secret dispatch, that "Soviet party
This is the assessment of the Central members in several institutes ave
Intelligence Agency, whose topsecret wntten etters comp ammg o a u -
din Brezhnev cult. The tenor of these
reports portray Brezhn as wary but e
wily old manipulator who has stayed on tters re rt p? y was that the party
top by outmaneuvering his rivals. had suffered under Stalin's personality
cult and Khrushchev's `subjectivism'.,
if he cant be pushed aside just yet,
he will give ground to underlings who and should not allow such errors to be
gather enough strength to budge him. repeated under Brezhnev."
He pulled back from detente, for ex- This campaign was apparently in-
ample, under pressure from the hard- spired by some junior Politburo mem-
heads who- prodded him into authoriz- bers. "It is not clear;" related an April
15, 1976; intelligence report, "whether
ing the Afghanistan aggression.
Intelligence reports suggest the move any senior member of the Soviet lead
into Afghanistan may be part of a stra- ership is critical of Brezhnev's tolera-
tegic offensive aimed at securing a tion of-if not fondness for-personal
stranglehold on the West's lifelines. If acclaim:'
the Russians should gain control of the The ancient and ascetic Mikhail Sus-
oil routes, they could bring the West- by, the Kremlin's ideological witch,
ern industrial nations to their knees. doctor, was suspected. But Brezhnev's
The effort. will -intensify, intelligence hand has always been quicker than any
sources predict, as Brezhnev weakens. rival's eye. He not only suppressed the
Illness and exhaustion have already criticism; he wound up increasing his
power: in June 1978, the Supreme
sapped r his vitality. e to-recuperate itodira Soviet gathered in the Grand Kremlin
pears hissweeos various at a time
ailments. . Ev en whePalace to install Brezhnev, already the
from hi
Eh en . r, as head of of state e as well.-,,.
health holds up, he is seldom able to paleaade6r, a head d reports as w suggest -, ,. J
spend more, than_ three hours a day at j the The senior- Politburo members rallied
his desk. around Brezhnev for their own preserva-
Yet standards. r . is Five n-dddl o f e 14 ruling itbu- ,. Lion. States a topsecret report: 'Those of
dean mem- his generation in the senior leadership
ro hers are oldde older than of the
bens are ol Is. Thwill be 81 e dean rdh y the would probably like him to stay on so as
old this Politburo ,moArvid PeLhe, power cure to "
old nth. Still, the powrt pre serve their own positions."
is controlled by these aged men. The Beneath the Kremlin's opaque surface,
senior members, reports a national Intel-l meanwhile, the undercurrents are seeth
lig ., ing. There is "no lack of aspirants," de-
inner e c bulletin, function as a small claret a secret analysis, for the policy-
This hastive within anut the making seats. The younger leaders i
This lavhas e of caused the Kremlin, n, a pat "know that they will rise only in part be-a
larly lower among the- younger Politburo buro cause of what they know as opposed to
r
members who feel stifled. "There is lit- whom they know, for some of the most
tie or no devolution of authority to the important Soviet-style political battles
juniors on the Politburo;' declares are fought on the patronage front ... r
the intelligence bulletin. They have Concludes another report: "There Is
been held down by Brezhnev, who has still no sign of preparations for succes-
always been able to outmaneuver any. sion when Brezhnev eventually leaves {
potential rivals before they gained office."
enough-power to threaten him.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100170137-5