Page "Yuri Andropov" Paragraph 36

Despite Andropov's hard-line stance in Hungary and the numerous banishments and intrigues for which he was responsible during his long tenure as head of the KGB, he has become widely regarded by many commentators as a reformer, especially in comparison with the stagnation and corruption during the later years of his predecessor, Leonid Brezhnev.

Andropov, " a throwback to a tradition of Leninist asceticism ", was appalled by the corruption during Brezhnev's regime, and ordered investigations and arrests of the most flagrant abusers.

The investigations were so frightening that several members of Brezhnev's circle " shot, gassed or otherwise did away with themselves.

" He was certainly generally regarded as inclined to more gradual and constructive reform than was Gorbachev ; most of the speculation centres around whether Andropov would have reformed the USSR in a manner which did not result in its eventual dissolution.