Vasily V Kuznetsov

Vasily V. Kuznetsov, who served as vice president to four Soviet presidents, died in Moscow this week at the age of 89, the official newspaper Pravda reported. Kuznetsov, who died Tuesday, became Soviet vice president in 1977 under Leonid I. Brezhnev and retired from the post in 1986, when Andrei A. Gromyko was president. In between, he served under two leaders, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko.

Vasily V. Kuznetsov, who served as vice president to four Soviet presidents, died in Moscow this week at the age of 89, the official newspaper Pravda reported. Kuznetsov, who died Tuesday, became Soviet vice president in 1977 under Leonid I. Brezhnev and retired from the post in 1986, when Andrei A. Gromyko was president. In between, he served under two leaders, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko.

The Kremlin dismissed the culture minister today in a possible stirring of the "fresh wind" Soviet intellectuals and artists have hoped for under Mikhail S. Gorbachev's leadership. Removal of Pyotr N. Demichev, 68, who confined the arts within his conservative mold for 12 years, was announced at a session of the Supreme Soviet. He was given the largely ceremonial job of deputy to President Andrei A. Gromyko. There also were indications of the ascendancy of Anatoly F.

The Soviet Academy of Sciences has adopted a plan that calls for compulsory retirement at age 65 for directors of its research institutes, a Soviet source said Tuesday. The plan fits in with reforms announced by Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and could be the forerunner of a move to force aging Communist Party officials into retirement.

Soviet diplomat Valerian A. Zorin, who scoffed at U.S. charges that his country had installed offensive missiles in Cuba, died on his 84th birthday, the Communist Party newspaper Pravda said. Pravda said Zorin died Jan. 14, but gave no cause of death in its weekend report. Zorin had been removed from key positions in 1971 and held the post of ambassador-at-large at his death.

Former Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko and 109 aging members of the Communist Central Party Committee were forced out today in what was viewed as a major political victory for Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev. Eleven of the senior figures removed from the top Kremlin councils had been closely linked to Gorbachev's disgraced predecessor, Leonid I. Brezhnev. Clearly strengthening Gorbachev's position and the future of his perestroika reform program, the Communist Party's Central Committee approved the resignation of more than a third of the members of the policy-setting body who cited "reasons of health and other personal reasons."

The Kremlin dismissed the culture minister Wednesday in a possible stirring of the "fresh wind" that Soviet intellectuals and artists have hoped for under Mikhail S. Gorbachev's leadership. Removal of Pyotr N. Demichev, 68, who confined the arts within a conservative mold for 12 years, was announced at a session of the Supreme Soviet. He was given the largely ceremonial job of deputy to President Andrei A. Gromyko. There also were indications of the ascendancy of Anatoly F.

Anatoly F. Dobrynin, the Soviet ambassador to Washington for the last 24 years, was transferred Thursday to a top-level post in the Communist Party's governing Secretariat as leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev moved to consolidate his control at the close of the 27th party congress. In a departure from tradition, a woman was one of five new members appointed to the Secretariat as Gorbachev put his stamp on the body that has day-to-day responsibility for governing.

Hours after the announcement of the death of Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernenko, President Reagan pledged Monday to work "with an open mind" toward improvement of U.S.-Soviet relations and said he is "looking forward" to meeting Chernenko's successor, Mikhail S. Gorbachev. The President decided not to attend Chernenko's funeral, designating Vice President George Bush to head the U.S. delegation.

Excuse the French, but the Iceland summit is, if it is anything, detente. Yet that word, which infused the political vocabulary in the early 1970s, has become lost to American speakers--not over a breakdown in arms control but because the Cubans went into Angola in 1975. The Cubans are still there, and logic would suggest that detente is still in suspension until they withdraw. But no, it is not even on the Reykjavik agenda.

Henry A. Kissinger's important service to our nation needs no recitation; his auto-biographies provide a brilliant and effective apologia. Yet his very eminence in our national debate obliges others to take account of the erratic course that his views have taken over the years. The evolution of his thinking on nuclear strategy and arms control is perplexing; it gives one pause when assessing his negative counsel on President Reagan's unprecedented opportunity in arms control.