Sergei L Sokolov

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev acted quickly to shake up his defense command "before the military could protect themselves" after the penetration of Soviet air defenses by a teen-aged West German pilot, Western analysts here said Sunday. "He needed to show them (the military) who is in charge," one Soviet specialist here commented. The dismissal of Defense Minister Sergei L. Sokolov and the head of the air defense forces, Chief Marshal Alexander I.

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev acted quickly to shake up his defense command "before the military could protect themselves" after the penetration of Soviet air defenses by a teen-aged West German pilot, Western analysts here said Sunday. "He needed to show them (the military) who is in charge," one Soviet specialist here commented. The dismissal of Defense Minister Sergei L. Sokolov and the head of the air defense forces, Chief Marshal Alexander I.

Defense Minister Sergei L. Sokolov and the head of Soviet air defenses were removed Saturday after the Politburo denounced the military for allowing a teen-age West German pilot to fly a light plane from the Baltic to the heart of Moscow. The Tass news agency said Sokolov, 75, was relieved of his duties in "connection with his retirement" and replaced by General of the Army Dmitri T. Yazov, 63. The head of the air defense forces, Chief Marshal Alexander I. Koldunov, 63, was fired.

Defense Minister Sergei L. Sokolov and the head of Soviet air defenses were removed Saturday after the Politburo denounced the military for allowing a teen-age West German pilot to fly a light plane from the Baltic to the heart of Moscow. The Tass news agency said Sokolov, 75, was relieved of his duties in "connection with his retirement" and replaced by General of the Army Dmitri T. Yazov, 63. The head of the air defense forces, Chief Marshal Alexander I. Koldunov, 63, was fired.

Soviet Defense Minister Sergei L. Sokolov will pay an official visit to Poland in the first half of April, Tass said Thursday. It said the invitation was extended by Polish Defense Minister Florian Siwicki. No precise date was give for the visit.

Abdel-Salam Jalloud, second in command to Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi, arrived in the Soviet Union for the first high-level contacts between the two countries since the U.S. attack on Libya last month. The official Soviet news agency Tass said only that Jalloud was on a working visit. But since Defense Minister Sergei L.

Syrian President Hafez Assad arrived in Moscow Thursday on a visit expected to be dominated by the thorny problem of Palestinian unity and the conflict in Lebanon. He was greeted at the airport by President Andrei A. Gromyko, Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze, Defense Minister Sergei L. Sokolov and senior Kremlin foreign policy adviser Anatoly F. Dobrynin, Tass news agency said. Assad, on his first visit to Moscow since July, 1985, plans to hold talks with Soviet leader Mikhail S.

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev struck a conciliatory tone Thursday on the 68th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, calling for a Geneva summit that will help remove "distrust, hatred and suspicion." Gorbachev told a reception after the traditional military show of might in Red Square that he sought "a constructive dialogue and a search for mutually beneficial agreements" with the United States.

The State Department on Monday accused Soviet Defense Minister Sergei L. Sokolov of making a false statement when he said the Soviets are not doing research on space weapons. "This is untrue and forms part of a continuing, self-serving Soviet propaganda campaign," said department spokesman Edward P. Djerejian, responding to an interview with Sokolov published Sunday by the official Soviet news agency Tass.

West German teen-age pilot Mathias Rust met with his Soviet lawyer in prison today, the eve of his Supreme Court trial on charges of violating Soviet airspace and international flight rules. The parents of the 19-year-old flier, Monika and Karl-Heinz Rust, arrived in Moscow on Sunday to attend the trial. They were "quite nervous," said Mario Dederichs, a correspondent for West Germany's Stern magazine.

The Kremlin gave a warm welcome Thursday to Col. Moammar Kadafi, and the Libyan strongman held talks with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev on the Iran-Iraq War, the Middle East and Africa. Kadafi, viewed in the West as a sponsor of international terrorism, was hailed in Soviet media as a revolutionary leader in the struggle against imperialism and colonialism.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, making his first visit to Moscow since the Iran-Iraq war began nearly six years ago, met Monday with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev amid speculation that he was seeking an increase in Soviet arms shipments. The presence of Soviet Defense Minister Sergei L. Sokolov at the Kremlin talks with Hussein spurred speculation about the reason for the previously unannounced visit. The Iraqis may need additional armaments to end their military stalemate with Iran.