Moscow moves frontline general

Press, 15 July 1985, Page 6

Moscow moves frontline general

The commander of the Soviet Union’s 400,000 soldiers in East Germany, General Mikhail Zaitsev, has been replaced, the official East German news agency, A.D.N. has announced. It was the second important change in the Soviet military hierarchy in a year. It said that General Zaitsev, a powerful figure long regarded as a possible future supreme commander of Warsaw Pact forces, was leaving his post with General Alexei Lissichev, a senior member of his staff. No successor was named. Western military experts expressed surprise but said that there were no immediate indications of what General Zaitsev’s new post would be.

Some military experts said that General Zaitsev might be preparing to take over as supreme commander of Warsaw Pact forces from Marshal Viktor Kulikov, who is more than 70. General Zaitsev departed just a year after Marshal

Nikolai Ogarkov was removed from his position as Chief of the General Staff of Soviet armed forces.

Marshal Ogarkov, then an aspiring Defence Minister, was believed at the time to be in disgrace because of political differences with the Kremlin.

But later, official reports suggested he had been appointed to control field operations among Soviet frontline forces in Eastern Europe.

As commander of Soviet forces in Germany, General Zaitsev controlled some of Moscow’s most advanced weapons.

His forces were strengthened last year when new short-range nuclear missiles were deployed to his command, the Group of Soviet Forces Germany.

General Zaitsev is regarded in Western military circles as a highly gifted military organiser who has pushed through several important structural changes in the Soviet group.