Soviet Union: Severe, Unwavering Efficiency

Andropov attacks "shirkers, slackers" and corruption

He is a sober man, precise, who shows no emotion, who sticks to the facts and to a mathematical reasoning." Such was the impression of Soviet Leader Yuri Andropov that French Foreign Minister Claude Cheysson took back to Paris last week after a five-day visit to the Soviet Union. Cheysson, who has never been known to hide behind diplomatic euphemisms, is one of the first Western government ministers to have conferred at length with Andropov since the Communist chief replaced the late Leonid Brezhnev last November.

The...

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