Soviet Union Curbing Glasnost

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Ever since 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev first used the term glasnost to refer to the new openness that he hoped would invigorate Soviet society, the policy has had its high-level detractors. One of the most outspoken critics has been Yegor Ligachev, the second-ranking Communist Party leader in the Politburo, who has followed up nearly every official nod toward openness with an admonition of restraint.

So there was little surprise last week when reports surfaced in the West that Ligachev had publicly attacked glasnost yet again. According to the New York Times, Ligachev, 66, made a stinging speech at a recent gathering of Soviet journalists. He condemned the weekly magazine Ogonyok, which has been critical of the Soviet status quo. He denounced the weekly paper Moscow News for publishing an obituary of Viktor Nekrasov, a Soviet writer who was expelled from the Communist Party in 1972 and later emigrated to the West. Ligachev publicly rebuked the paper's editor, Yegor Yakovlev, for printing the tribute over Communist Party objections, saying it was unacceptable for a story to be published simply because of an "editor's personal decision." Yakovlev, who was in the audience, reportedly stood up and defended the article, an action that would have been unthinkable several years ago.

High-level criticism of glasnost is perhaps to be expected. The policy was never envisioned, even by Gorbachev, as Western-style free speech. Indeed, according to some Soviet experts, Ligachev's naysaying may simply be a way of keeping the new freedoms within bounds. "It's the good-cop, bad-cop routine," says a Washington official. Others believe Ligachev is positioning himself to take over should the Soviet leader falter.

Gorbachev has not been seen in public since early August. Bild, a West German daily, reported last week that he had been suffering from food poisoning, possibly an assassination attempt. But the Foreign Ministry quickly denied any illness, explaining that Gorbachev was simply away on vacation. He is scheduled to resume work in Moscow early this week. Late last week the Swedish daily Expressen, citing a Soviet doctor as its source, reported that Gorbachev had prolonged his vacation because his wife Raisa, 55, was suffering from complications following an appendectomy.