Brezhnev plaque may once more adorn late Soviet leader's home

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A plaque commemorating late Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev may be restored to the facade of the Moscow apartment building where he lived, in a sign of nostalgia that has been harnessed by President Vladimir Putin.

Critics say Brezhnev, who ruled longer than any Soviet leader except dictator Josef Stalin, presided over a period of political repression and economic stagnation.

But many Russians see his 18-year rule, until his death in 1982, as a time of economic stability for the superpower and blame Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, for the break-up of the union in 1991.

A lawmaker from the ruling United Russia party is among the initiators of the plan to restore the plaque. The proposal has drawn criticism from liberals.

Plaques commemorating other Soviet-era figures adorn many central Moscow apartment houses, but the one on the stately building where Brezhnev lived on a main avenue was removed after the Soviet Union fell apart.

A poll last month by the independent Levada Center found 56 percent of Russians had a positive view of Brezhnev - more than had a positive view of any other Soviet-era leader, or of the last tsar, Nicholas II, or post-Soviet President Boris Yeltsin.

Putin has used Soviet-era imagery to bolster his popularity and encourage patriotism, while portraying the years between the Soviet break-up and his first election in 2000 as a time of chaos when Russia was on its knees and nearly fell apart.

Satirists have likened 60-year-old Putin's long period in power to that of Brezhnev, who remained in the Kremlin as his health declined long before his death at 79.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has called the Brezhnev era a "huge plus" for the country.

(Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Pravin Char)

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Back in the USSR? Soviet key document is missing

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — The powerful Soviet Union may still exist after all, at least on paper.

Former Belarusian leader Stanislav Shushkevich says a historical document of 1991 that proclaimed the death of the Soviet Union is missing from the archives.
Shushkevich discovered that the document had gone while working on his memoirs. He said he believes that has been stolen, possibly by a former Belarusian official — probably with the intention to sell to a collector.
"It's hard to believe that the disappearance of a document at a level, but this is a fact," Shushkevich told the Associated Press.
Officials with the Government of Belarus and Russia-dominated Alliance of ex-Soviet Nations confirmed late Wednesday that only have copies.
"We don't know where the original is," said Vasily Ostreiko, head of the archive Department of the Commonwealth of independent States, which has its headquarters in Minsk, the Belarusian capital. "We have a copy of that document. Is certified in accordance with international standards, but it's still a copy. "
Disappearance of the document reflects the chaos that surrounded the 1991 demise of the Soviet Union, a superpower of 300 million people sprawled over nearly a dozen spindles and included what is now in 15 countries.
On December 8, 1991, Shushkevich has hosted Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk to secret talks at a Government hunting lodge near Viskuli in Belovezha forest. The trio signed an agreement stating that "the USSR ceased to exist as a subject of international law and the geopolitical reality", defeating the attempts of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to hold together the Soviet Union.
The agreement also announced the creation of the Commonwealth of independent States, a loose alliance joined by nine other Soviet republics that month.
Gorbachev resigned on December 25, 1991, the Soviet Communist empire that ruled with an iron fist for nearly 70 years has ceased to exist.

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