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- GRAPEVINE, Page 13
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- By DAVID ELLIS/Reported by David E. Thigpen
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- GEORGIAN ON THEIR MINDS? With his new powers as President
- and his handful of domestic woes, Mikhail Gorbachev is likely
- to relinquish the once powerful post of General Secretary of
- the Communist Party next month. Who will replace him? The
- momentum is swinging toward Foreign Minister Eduard
- Shevardnadze, who has also been considered a potential Prime
- Minister if Nikolai Ryzhkov is forced to step aside. The choice
- would be both surprising and plausible. If he is to succeed as
- President, Gorbachev will need a trusted ally to head the party;
- Shevardnadze has been a friend for 25 years. If the party is
- to survive, it will require a leader respected within and
- outside the ranks. Shevardnadze's political reputation is
- virtually spotless, and his non-Russian background -- he was
- born in the Georgian republic -- may help keep
- independence-minded party members from deserting. And who would
- take Shevardnadze's place? Experts are watching Yevgeni
- Primakov, 60, who has been an important player on Gorbachev's
- foreign policy team since 1985; his was the new face at the
- table at last week's summit.
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