INVISIBLE MAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100740011-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 18, 2010
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: April 19, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/18: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100740011-9
ARTICLE, APPEARED
ON PAGE y=o
TIME
19 April 1982
World
Invisible Man
More rumors on Brezhnev
I
he statement from the Foreign Minis-
T
try in Moscow was brief and to the
point "Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev is current-
ly on his routine winter vacation." Never
mind that the cold, crisp days of the Rus-
sian winter had passed and that the capri-
cious spring weather and thawing snow
hardly made for a pleasant vacation. For
Kremlin watchers around the world, the
announcement provided the first official
acknowledgment that the Soviet leader
had indeed dropped out of sight. But if it
was intended to allay suspicions about his
whereabouts, it only increased the ques-
tions concerning Brezhnev's disappear-
ance from public view three weeks ago.
The 75-year-old Soviet leader was last
seen in Tashkent as he was about to board
a plane that would take him back to Mos-
cow after a four-day visit to Soviet Central
Asia. Given the hectic schedule Brezhnev
had set for himself, his dazed, almost
blank look as he inattentively followed
the departure ceremonies did not strike
Soviets watching the evening news as un-
usual. During almost a decade of precari-
ous health, Brezhnev had had such bad
days before.
According to some accounts, Brezh-
nev collapsed moments later while still in
the Tashkent airport. Other versions tell
of a sudden mild stroke during the four-
hour flight back to Moscow. The evi-
dence: no film footage or newspaper pho-
tographs show his return to Moscow, a
curious lapse from the ironclad rules of
Kremlin protocol.
The various reports disagree on what
happened to Brezhnev after his arrival in
Moscow. Some put him in the Kremlin
clinic on Granovsky Street and cite stories
that police cordoned off entrances to the
health center. Other versions have him
convalescing at his suburban Moscow da-
cha, which is believed to have the latest in
medical equipment. When quizzed about
the hospitalization rumors, the laconic
Foreign Ministry spokesman stopped just
short of a denial, noting that he had "no
information."
There were reports that a U.S. intelli-
gence document had described the Soviet
lea e s t ness as 'Every serious" stroke
an specu a e a he would pro a. y
s t e p G o w n a F m e e T t n g o T t h e Central
Committee iMay, but high-level U.S_in-
te gene oHRia s slay they have never
seen su'cfi document, anil have no ream
to tr'ezfinev has had a serious set-
~ac cT-Saying that he toad-"no confirva-
tion" that the Soviet leader was ill, Presi-
dent Reagan mvit Brezhnev to meet
with him in New Y rk City in June. Sovi-
-Et- officials we`re caug-Fil-oil guardby the
i11-tuxedo er, tTloogh [heyy later said that
Brez7inev might accept7f~ -_.-
estern governments were just as
puzzled over who was in charge
during Brezhnev's absence. Speculation
that Andrei Kirilenko, 75, a longtime fa-
vorite for the succession, had lost a power
struggle to Brezhnev Protege Konstantin
Chernenko, 70, was strengthened last
week when Kirilenko's name was missing
from an obituary for a World War 11 tank
commander signed by other Kremlin
leaders. A senior West German official
gave Brezhnev "a few more months," but
then warned: "When I read our informa-
tion, I am always amazed at how little we
know for certain about the inner workings
of the leadership of the world's second
most important power."
Whatever the speculation abroad, the
Kremlin was clearly intent on creating
the impression that-his vacation not-
withstanding-Brezhnev was still in com-
mand. The front page of.the Communist
Party daily Pravda dutifully printed, un-
der Brezhnev's signature, messages to sev-
eral world leaders. In a birthday note to
Vietnamese Party Leader Le Duan, also
75, Brezhnev hoped that his comrade
might enjoy "good health, years of long
life and new successes in your vigorous ac-
tivity."
He might very well have wished
himself the same. NJ
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/18: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100740011-9