Gorbachev’s New Ministers
Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev replaced leaders of the failed coup, naming a temporary defense minister, KGB chairman and interior minister. The new appointees: DEFENSE: Gen. Mikhail A. Moiseyev, 52, who has been chief of the Soviet general staff, named acting defense minister, replacing Dmitri T. Yazov.
Quotes: “The main task of our armed forces has been and still is unchanged--the reliable protection of the peaceful labor of the Soviet people from infringements from abroad on the sovereignty and the integrity of our multinational state.”
--Moiseyev, February, 1991
“I wouldn’t want that guy behind me in a dark hall now.”
--U.S. official on Moiseyev, who is seen as anti-reform
KGB: Leonid V. Shebarshin, 56, named acting chairman of the KGB security police, replacing Vladimir A. Kryuchkov. Shebarshin is a career espionage officer considered intelligent and cosmopolitan.
Quote: “The frameworks of the intelligence work are dictated by our approach to human rights and the moral principles of the Soviet state.”
Shebarshin, April, 1990.
INTERIOR: Lt. Gen. Vasily P. Trushin, 56, acting interior minister, replacing Boris K. Pugo. Trushin has been a first deputy minister of the Interior Ministry since 1985. The interior minister is in charge of the nation’s police.
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