Lawmaker Assails Brezhnev Medal

A lawmaker on Monday suggested that the nation withdraw its highest military order from the late Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev, who was given the honor 33 years after the end of World War II, Tass news agency reported.

Brezhnev, who rose to major general serving as a political officer in the war, was given the jewel-encrusted Order of Victory in 1978, the official agency said. He died in 1982.

Supreme Soviet deputy Albert Likhachev said many people see the decoration as one of Brezhnev’s undeserved rewards. But Tass noted that Parliament has no power to revoke the award.

Such a move would further discredit Brezhnev, who now is condemned for plunging the economy into a crisis. His name has been stripped off cities and ships, and his relatives have lost some benefits given to family members of a Soviet leader.