WHO IS YURI ANDROPOV?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83M00914R001200100029-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Sequence Number: 29
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/05/23: CIA-RDP83M00914R001200100029-1
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_Jerry .R lough
THE WASHINGTON POST
27 May 1982
YAri-AndrO~`av'l `
The:selection of Yuri Andn
one .of: the most favorable developments to have occurred in the :Countries Department. The Kuusinen group essentially was given to.
Soviet-Union in recent years. It is yet another strong piece of evidence ` ? .the_Socialist Countries -Departmeot,.that is, to Andropov. Andropov
that.-the Soviet succession will bring significant reform fairly quickly ; :soon replaced Burlatsky as its head with another of its members;
rather than after a long transitional period. Oeorgy Arbatov, now` the director. of the Institute of the U.S.A. and(
.Andropov, chairman of the KGB for 14 years;. is primarily known ` ..,Canada- :: f: :: ,:. ? .. ? ~ .:=: '.
inthe:West as head of the secret police, which has been suppressings:. _ atov continued-ih.this,post,unti1 1967: The group'included a
disc idents.3Tlrat is an-important part of-his responsibilities and of..his ' numbs o important -reformist.: intellectuals-:notably Alexander]
personality.: He has recently spoken out- forcefully against:a multi- Bavip,:now the Izvestia columnist, and OlegBagomolov; the directori
party:system,.and, as a national leader, hewould likely be as harsh'on ;i;:oftheinstitute thatstudies East European?economic reform..::::.
the dissidents as Leonid Brezhnev. *~Ialeailer accepts all.tlieideas of his advisers, but Andropov surety:
Yet the degree of success of the dissidents is not the whole stortof was aware of Arbatov'a public role of pushing :detente since 195.4:1
the evolution of. Soviet society. If we focus .upon political, stuyggles.. ;."then he selected him as his chief long-term adviser=
and tren&within the Soviet Commumist Party, Andropov is an ex= ..: pov's most recent speech, on . the anniversary
of Lenir's
tremely interesting figure:: ,.-birthday; suggested that he is still thinking in these terms. Its two.
Two facts-are crucial First; the KGB has foreign intelligence and majorthemes were the creative nature of ]Marxism-Leninism (a code-'
?' foreign policy: r.sponsibilities as well as internal security ones. Andre- word for the need to modify it) and the absolutely central character of 1
pov's background suggests he was chosen predominantly for the first the. question. of peace and war. :Andropovwas forthright in stating"
;set. For the 14 years before becoming KGB chief; Andropov worked that the Soviet Union must get on with solving its own problems
in the foreign policy realm. From 1953 to 1957, he was ambassador to ,:. Andropov is probably now. the heir apparent, and, if this is the
Hungary; and from 1957 to 1967 head of the Socialist Countries De- "rase, Arbatov may become his national security adviser. But all of the
partnnent of the Central Committee. -.candidates have weaknesses in their background, and the new leader-1,
The key deputy chairriren of the KGB for, internal'securitywiere ?ship is likely-to be collective and toTesernble that of 1953.1957 in i
B:eztinv cronies, and Androprov cannot bade had much control over which important reform occured, including a limitation on the growth'
a'.th_m_ He.surelyspent much of is timein the KGB's foreign pol-.cy ; `n military budgets. The Reagan administration should be prepared
Because of his ambassadorship in Hungary, he must.have remained ` .. ': .. .. 41-.-
"-,-
the leadership's special expert on that country, and it is difficult :to .'-_ The writer is a professor of.political science at Duke Uni_
.imagine the Soviet.Union.toleratingand increasingly approving the . versityand a staff member of theBrookings Institution.
reForcrs that have been carried out im Hungary if.Andropov
:ueerrpushing that line:.: '.?..: , :'. , : _, _- r. '. ; r.,;
The second 'key; fact about Andropov is that he is a.protege ot:Otto
Kuusinen: the old Soviet leader'o#Finnish extraction. From;.I940 t
1951 Andropov did Korrfsomoland party work in the Karelo-Finnish
republic .under- Kuusinen;.who; as be,rose in influence' in..the Khru.
snthe,? period.took Andropovwith ;. ;` ?' a .
Kuusinen is known in-the-West as.the'man Stalin tried-to install
Communist leader in-Finland during the Soviet-Finnish War of. 1919-
1940. But within the Soviet Union he was-an important reformist fig-
-uue_ As Comintern secretary in 1934, he'argued against Stalin irrfavor
of the establishment of the Popular Front against Hitler. In 1945.
1946, under the pseudonym -of "N. Baltiisky," he wrote- favorably
about. West European :socialists. at a time-when. this suggested
detente, and in one remarkable. article in 1945 he even seemed to ad-
vocatei.in an Aesopian way, independence for Poland.
."Once Stalin died, Kuusinen- became an important-adviser. in,Mos
,cow, and. in 1957 he was named aCentral Committee secretary and.a
:,full member-of the?Presidium. ? _ .-
--Essentially Kuusinen was:, a reformist, non-dogmatic. ideologises'
who served as:a-counterpoint to the more c'onservative-'Nlikhail Su:
slov. To head his-full-time "group of consuiltarits,':':he chose "tlie'3
year-old Fedor Burlatsky, an intellectual who Iiad been'the most'out-
spoken advocate -of democratization and deStalinization,m the.
21. ;
Soviet media in 1964-57: =:: -" = ..
When Kuusinen died,. the group of consultants was d,vided into 1
._ _. r ...~.. _._. . _.._.. .... .... .... . 'P !'..iii 4