SOVIET UNION: Brezhnev Redux

“How nice to see you again,” said British Prime Minister Harold Wilson to Soviet Party Chief Leonid Brezhnev, when they met in the Kremlin last week. “Have you been resting?” Brezhnev brushed off the loaded question with a wave of the hand. “I’ll explain about that later.” As if to dispel reports that he had been stricken with pneumonia and a variety of other respiratory ailments, the Soviet leader nonchalantly lit a cigarette. “One of my faults,” he conceded.

Thus were seven weeks of rumors dissipated in a puff of smoke. Since Brezhnev vanished from public view on Dec. 24, he has been widely reported to be medically and politically moribund. Some Kremlinologists predicted that if he failed to greet Wilson, who was making his first state visit to Moscow in seven years, that would confirm the direst of long-distance diagnoses. On the eve of the British Prime Minister’s visit, the respected Paris daily Le Monde cited “informed Soviet sources” as saying that Brezhnev had suffered a “brutal” relapse from cancer, or, alternatively, cardiovascular disease. Other sources speculated that the party chief had lost the power of speech.

Not so. Ebullient as ever, looking vigorous and rested (not to mention 10 lbs. lighter), Brezhnev discussed European security, trade and the Middle East with Wilson. Although his voice seemed a bit more slurred than usual, he made a 20-rninute speech before Soviet television cameras, giving the impression of a man who was fit and in command—at least as far as anyone could see.