Soviet Union: Telltale Clues

New mysteries in the Kremlin

After several months of relative inactivity following the death of Leonid Brezhnev, the Moscow rumor mill last week was once again grinding away. The first major items of interest concerned the state of health and whereabouts of Communist Party Leader Yuri Andropov, 68. Then, as if tales of an Andropov illness were not intriguing enough, the official Soviet news agency TASS set off a new round of speculation with a terse two-line communique announcing the promotion of Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, 73, to the post of First Deputy...

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