Younger Men In Kremlin

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31345, 15 April 1967, Page 13

Younger Men In Kremlin

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) MOSCOW, April 14. A big reshuffle of Soviet Army command posts to bring younger men to the top has been forecast by Western experts in Moscow.

Several marshals who have held senior commands since the Second World War are expected to be retired and replaced by men in their fifties with a flair for modern technology.

Western sources said there were rumours in military circles that up to 500 officers could be affected in a shakeup likely to reach down to

the Army’s middle echelons. Plans to rejuvenate the top ranks were said to be linked with the Kremlin’s appointment on Wednesday of Marshal Andrei Grechko, aged 63, as the new Defence Minister.

Simultaneously, three new Deputy Ministers were appointed in a move which seemed to emphasise the new sweep at the top. All three are about 10 years younger than the men they are expected to replace. Promotion Slow Until now, promotion to the highest echelons has been slow, the average age of the 12 top men in the armed forces has been 64, with several approaching 70. Marshal Ivan Yakubovsky, promoted to First Deputy

Minister, is expected to take over Marshal Grechko’s Warsaw Pact command. General Sergei Sokolov, aged 56, also made a First Deputy Minister, is being tipped to replace Marshal Matvei Zakharov, aged 68, as chief of the general staff. A third new Deputy Minister, General Ivan Pavlovsky, aged 57, has been brought to Moscow from the China border. More high-level appointments are expected. The only other top commanders under 60 are Admiral Sergei Gorshkov, Navy commander-in-chief, and General Pavel Batitsky, head of the anti-aircraft forces. Both are 56.

Marshal Grechko’s appointment came after rumours that the Kremlin was consid-

ering a break with tradition by making a high civilian Communist official the Defence Minister.

There was speculation that this might still be the longterm aim, but that it had been pigeonholed because of opposition by conservative army leaders. Informed sources thought that the Kremlin would continue to canvass the plan in hopes of a transition to a civilian control within the next few years. According to this theory, the relatively younger general staff officers are likely to be more amendable to the idea that civilian control is inevitable in modern conditions, with economic and technological factors playing a major role.