Doctor’s Exit Raises Fears on Chernenko
A leading Soviet cardiologist has cut short a tour of the United States and returned to Moscow, fueling new fears that the 73-year-old Soviet leader Kanstantin U. Chernenko, who has not been seen in public for seven weeks, is seriously impaired.
Cleveland television station WKYC reported that Dr. Evgeny Chazov, a Soviet cardiologist known by Westerners in Moscow as “the physician to the Politburo,” unexpectedly cut short a two-day stay in the city to return to the Soviet Union.
The station said the doctor, on a U.S. tour with other physicians, stopped in Cleveland on Wednesday. He was apparently scheduled to speak at Case Western Reserve University that night but the address was canceled. No reason was given for his return home.
Not Personal Physician
Before leaving Chazov had declined to comment on reports about the Soviet leader’s health. Chazov denied that he is Chernenko’s personal physician but refused to say if he is his cardiologist.
A Greek journalist who accompanied Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou to Moscow reported today that Chernenko entered a hospital Tuesday after a series of strokes.
Nikiforos Antonopoulos, correspondent of the afternoon newspaper Nea, said in a report published today that Chernenko entered the hospital only hours before he was due to meet Papandreou.
Antonopoulos, who returned to Athens today with Papandreou, quoted “very reliable sources in Moscow” for his report.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
