World Notes Soviet Union

When Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov, 67, was abruptly removed as Chief of Staff and Deputy Defense Minister last September, it was widely assumed that he had fallen out of favor with the Kremlin. The first official indication of his new standing came in an obituary for Defense Minister Dmitri Ustinov, which was published on Dec. 22. Ogarkov's name appeared in the tenth of 17 rows of official signatures. Said a Western diplomat in Moscow: "He must be in about a third-echelon position."

There was some speculation last fall that Ogarkov might have taken over command of the western forces of the Warsaw Pact or that he had been appointed head of the Voroshilov Academy of the General Staff in Moscow. The obituary, however, placed his name alongside those of the chiefs of the Main Political Directorate of the Armed Forces, which oversees the Communist Party's control over the military. If Ogarkov has indeed become a sort of political commissar, it would be an ironic appointment for a career officer with a reputation for being at odds with the party's views on military strategy. The precise reason for his demotion remains unknown; Western military analysts suggest that the marshal might have been dismissed because he favored a conventional over a nuclear buildup.