WORLD : Soviets Get Young Military Chief
The Soviet Union announced the appointment today of a young “rising star” as armed forces chief of staff, clearly charged with implementing Kremlin leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s force reduction package.
A Defense Ministry announcement said 49-year-old Col. Gen. Mikhail Moiseyev will replace outgoing staff chief Marshal Sergei Akhromeyev, 65, a war veteran who stepped down the day Gorbachev told the U.N. General Assembly of plans to cut the armed forces back by 500,000.
The promotion of Moiseyev, for the last two years commander of the Far East Military District which covers areas bordering China and facing Japan, appeared to mark the beginning of a generation change in the Soviet military hierarchy. He did not see service in World War II.
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