YURI V. ANDROPOV

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100170053-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 53
• Publication Date: May 28, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

S Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100170053-6
NEW YORK TINS
28 May 1982
Y u r i V. Andro v
~
_Y._d a.~ ''>
rr
ByJOHNF.BVRNS",;?`;
MOSCOW. May 27 - If there were
I any doubts that powerful men In the
Kremlin are Positioning them9elves
seemed to be dispelled with the an-.
nouncement on Wednesday that: Yuri
V iadimirevii ch Andrvpov,
Mn a - career _ Communist'
fOtbe. Party Official, rod been
News relieved of his duties as
~....... --head of . K G_S fhb `?.
C
unm In cu a nrianti
.. ,..~
,lC[ilil' ?
peen especte i titter the atsclosure the;.
Cloy befoiae that he would return tobis
;.farmes.post of a secretary fn.the
member party. secretariat, which. . .
'secretary, runs the Soviet Union's af? '
`lairs. Mr. Andropov was moved from `
the i cretarlatto the chairimanahip of .
-the ILG.B. in 1967 as part of an effort
P to affirm party control over the set-:
~.cerityageacy
r appeared to confirm rumors that Mr.
military COmmiSSarB two weeb
?1W.. w... rl'..i 7?. :9
Me Bremer Politburo has prey.
+ to the public, but Mr. Andi+opov's ca-
ti.: K.G.B., he esstablishQd his ideological
mettle, and any suspicions of queasl.
ness in the face of popular challenge
the uprising there to M&
p Gast year, rumors readied Western
.;s diplomats-that be was_pressing for
Brezbw- was ready for a crackdown.
Butreadersof SovletIMtsllectuaijot&."
teals have found' evidence suggesting
that he may be more pragmaticr than
s
.f his rivals if his a
th .
t
mew." .
ome
u
i
y
'eateodedlto ecoaubffii suues: - '
`Like most men in the Kremlin bier.
.Qs a telegraph operator and 000 i&;12
His first party fob,_as,head,o1 the' .
was then the Kare)o Finnish"republic,
tenoe between himself and the K.G.B. !' auks as n_ va au w ar aa. j .
`{ {-a~'ti +r..r`P'tTa i:i:+ ~dlleQPtati- ?i' ;,,;. .. .. :} _ .,. ?.? ,
to strengthen his hand in what Sovio- + t AS a mini official ills
tologhts have dubbed the *Vresuooes- Longtime party officuat is oaf: was sent to the party's secretariat
elm struggle" In the Kremlin. It tins - "=--' stag in 1951, and, except fora four.-.j
long hem assumed that the K.G.B. lob ;,- ; stint in Hungary, remained.there
fs a deadweight on anyone aspiring to:, .-For Mr Andmpofr, the move: chard, until be moved to the K.G.B. in 1967.,-'-
be the top man in t#ie Kr emlia.:~ .: ; ~?.: . be' a gamble. While remainbig at tb5r. s:. While at. the security agency, he was :.
?=i 3rseu ity agency might have disgnallr? ' elected to the ruling Politburo, flrsf as
Viewed as a Moderate in fled him from the party leadership, an alternate member in 1967, and thin
Altbou -the gluwering:look. of Ids.,i !would still
,h~aave givmhim a: voice id ' as a tnll, voting member In 1973.
official photographs hardly conveyed designating`Mr. Brezbriev's. succes '` ; _ t
it, Mr. Andropov was a moderate dui,..,' sot. By moving back to the Although his travels have been rim.
lag his 15-year tenure at K.G:B. head- at, he' has rdinquishedi a tbat~x Ited to Communist countries, he has
siq ddai~ts found him an implacable foe, :'where bit skills at
Itical
infi g' i mmd of English a rare accomplish- but the party and the population as a could decide whether he recedes in liar % am deis.-~ v= r ,
whole rested easier. fluence or inherits Mr. Bi+erbaer's job
Pladrig the as general secretary
c 6
MGM.,,
including
} huge network of agents, under at least ?, So fat,, the two main coatenders~ .
a semblance of ."socialist -legality"_i seem to, be Mr.' Andropov and Kod;9
was the task set by Mr. Brezhnev stantin U.' Chernenko, longtime
when he pulled the aide out of the. Brezhnev. confidant.. Mr.-'Andropov:'
secretariat and sent him to the staked his claLn by giving-the annual
I.G.B., a couple of blocks from the 'speech on i,enin's- birthday last
party's secretariat offices -on Mos month; but Mr. Chernenko cantered'
}cow's Old Square. withlgpIde9lggicalspeechtoa a;ber:1
Over the years, Mr. Andropw sun.-
ceeded to the point that the ruling,
Politburo has fudged it safe to reins
sign the post to a career security offI.
cer, Vltaly V. Fedorchuk.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/23: CIA-RDP90-00552 R000100170053-6