Word: chernenko
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...sick is Konstantin Chernenko...
...topic is discussed constantly in Moscow these days, for clearly understandable reasons. The Soviet party leader and President, 73, who is believed to be suffering from emphysema, has been absent from public view for about a month. Soviet television last showed an apparently frail Chernenko on Dec. 27, handing out awards at a Kremlin ceremony. Three days earlier he had missed the funeral of Defense Minister Dmitri Ustinov, held in Red Square on a bitterly cold...
...Kremlinologists are watching most intently as a potential successor to Chernenko is Mikhail Gorbachev, 53. He deeply impressed his British hosts last December with his relaxed, authoritative manner during an official visit; at times he already seems to be talking and acting like No. 2. Gorbachev's closest rival appears to be Grigori Romanov, who at 61 is also a youngster by Politburo standards. Romanov is considered to be more dogmatic than Gorbachev, with strong ties to the defense establishment. If Gorbachev and Romanov cancel each other out in some restrained contest for power, then the favorite choice...
...considered particularly significant since it followed the resumption of U.S.-Soviet arms talks. Then came the brief announcement from TASS: the conference had been postponed. To many Kremlin watchers, there was only one possible explanation, as voiced by a senior British diplomat: "A deterioration in Soviet President Konstantin Chernenko's health...
...Chernenko is thought to be suffering from chronic emphysema; traveling during the cold snap that has gripped Europe might have worsened his condition at a time when disagreements among pact members require vigorous diplomacy. The treaty that established the alliance is up for renewal, and Hungary and Rumania are known to oppose Moscow's desire to extend the agreement in perpetuity. Said a State Department Kremlinologist: "You don't conquer recalcitrant allies from a wheelchair...