GORBACHEV TRIES PUBLIC APPROACH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100440001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 10, 2011
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 15, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/10: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100440001-4
AMU ALS~A
z
Appeal seen
as a bid to
polish image
W^.SHINGTON TIMES
15 May 1986
tries ra c ev
P'ww
approach
By Don Kirk
USA TODAY
Soviet General Secretary
Mikhail Gorbachev appeared
the model of a modern leader
Wednesday - live on TV in an
unprecedented display for do-
mestic and foreign viewers.
Analysts agreed on that
much about Gorbachev's new
reformist image but disagreed
sharply on whether he had
waited too long to talk about
the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
His appeal for a conference
on nuclear safety, in particular,
appeared as an effort at ratio-
nalizing his procrastination -
and uncertainty.
;trying to retrieve the
now with the Rand Corp.
"That's what they always do."
Marshall Goldman of Har-
vard's Russian Research Cen-
ter saw Gorbachev's belated
response as having "tarnished
his image" and doubted if he
could repair the damage.
"The hoo-haw is mounting
inside and outside the country
every day," Goldman said.
By delaying 18 days in ad-
dressing the issue, he added,
Gorbachev had belied earlier
promises "to bring about great
reform" - and to do it "with
candor and openness."
To Stephen Cohen, Prince-
ton professor of Soviet politics,
Gorbachev was still "the most
Westernized Soviet leader
since Lenin."
It's "silly to indict him" for
Chernobyl, said Cohen, since
"there has never been a nucle-
ar calamity like this."
Columbia University's Jona-
than Sanders expressed the
view that Gorbachev had been
nrrne CIA Soviet soedallst.
AP
LIVE BROADCAST: Soviet leader MikhaiI Gorbachev addresses the Soviet people on live television.
unusually frank in releasing
details, but simply had failed to
understand foreign pressure
for information.
"He doesn't appreciate what
levels of anxiety he created in
the West," Sanders said. By
waiting to adopt a "deliberate
assessment," he said, the
Kremlin "opened a loophole
for people to criticize."
Almost Immediately after
CNN had finished its live
broadcast of Gorbachev's
speech, Vitaly Churkin of the
Soviet Embassy in Washington
appeared on CNN in defense of
the boas. His government, he
said, gave out information as
soon as it had it.
Embassy spokesman Igor
Bulay Insisted Gorbachev was
indeed "more open" than his
predecessors but he had want-
ed his government "to first of
all collect reliable data."
Bulay said Soviet leaders
had often spoken live on TV,
but Gorbachev's appearance in
midcrtsis recalled Josef Sta-
lin's radio appeal for support
for "mother Russia" after the
1941 Nazi invasion.
Like Stalin, said Goldman,
Gorbachev "hid for a while
and then said something"
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/10: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100440001-4