Editing Yuri Andropov (section)

==Attitudes toward Andropov==
[[File:Артимарка Юрий Андропов 2014.jpg|thumb|2014 postage stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of his birth]]

===Leadership persona and strategy===
Various people who knew Andropov well, including [[Vladimir Medvedev]], [[:ru:Чучалин, Александр Григорьевич|Aleksandr Chuchyalin]], [[Vladimir Kryuchkov]]<ref>{{cite book|year=2004|url=http://old.redstar.ru/2004/07/01_07/4_01.html |author=Kryuchkov, Vladimir|title=Личность и власть|publisher=Просвещение |isbn=5-09-013785-4}}</ref> and [[Roy Medvedev]], remembered him for his politeness, calmness, unselfishness, patience, intelligence and exceptionally sharp memory.<ref>{{cite book|author=Medvedev, Vladimir |title=Человек за спиной|year=1994|publisher=Russlit|isbn=5865080520|pages=120–121}}</ref> According to Chuchyalin, while working at the Kremlin, Andropov would read about 600 pages a day and remember everything he read.<ref>[https://tass.ru/interviews/6114762 Личный пульмонолог Черненко: чтобы генсек дышал, мы применяли космические технологии]. TASS (14 February 2019)</ref> Andropov read English literature and could communicate in Finnish, English and German.<ref>[https://www.kp.ru/daily/26940.7/3990798/ Рой Медведев: Андропов не дожил до своей оттепели...] kp.ru</ref>

Historian [[Moshe Lewin]] characterizes Andropov during his brief tenure as Soviet leader as "a politician interested in intellectual issues, but who was also a realist" and states that "Andropov was free of the habitual arrogance of Soviet leaders, who considered their empire invulnerable". This led him to seek dialogue with [[Social democracy|social democrats]] in Western countries instead of only building relationships with fellow [[Marxism-Leninism|Marxist-Leninists]]. Within the party elites, he actively encouraged disagreements and debates, while also preserving the image of [[Democratic centralism|ideological unity]] towards the outside. Despite his KGB connections and his repressive tendencies, Andropov mused over ways to encourage "forms of political as well as economic [[Pluralism (political philosophy)|pluralism]]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Lewin |first=Moshe |author-link=Moshe Lewin |date=2016 |title=The Soviet Century |location=London |publisher=[[Verso Books|Verso]] |page=254-255 |isbn=9781784780661}}</ref> [[Vladislav M. Zubok|Vladislav Zubok]] even states that "The idea of renovating the Soviet Union originated not with [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], but with his mentor Yuri Andropov", who was in favor of "controlled, conservative reforms".<ref>{{cite book |last=Zubok |first=Vladislav |author-link=Vladislav M. Zubok |date=2021 |title=Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union |location=New Haven and London |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |page=13-14 |isbn=9780300262445}}</ref>

===Attitudes among dissidents===
According to Russian historian [[Nikita Petrov]], "He was a typical Soviet jailer who violated human rights. Andropov headed the organisation which persecuted the most remarkable people of our country."<ref>{{cite news|title=Andropov birth centenary evokes nostalgia for Soviet hardliner|url=http://gulfnews.com/news/europe/andropov-birth-centenary-evokes-nostalgia-for-soviet-hardliner-1.1365191|work=[[Gulf News]]|date=29 July 2014}}</ref> According to Petrov, it was a shame for the USSR that a persecutor of intelligentsia and of freedom of thought became leader of the country.<ref name=Kara-Murza>{{cite news|author =Кара-Мурза, Владимир|title=Как изменилась оценка обществом ставленников спецслужб в госвласти со времен Андропова?|newspaper=Радио Свобода |trans-title=How has society's assessment of security services proteges in state power changed since the time of Andropov?|url=http://www.svoboda.org/content/transcript/1490818.html|publisher=[[Radio Liberty]]|language=ru|date=10 February 2009}}</ref>

[[Roy Medvedev]] stated that the year that Andropov spent in power was memorable for increasing repression against dissidents.<ref name=Kara-Murza/> During most of his KGB career, Andropov crushed dissident movements, isolated people in psychiatric hospitals, imprisoned them, and deported them.<ref>{{cite journal|author =Cichowlas, Ola|title=In Russia, it is deja-vu all over again: how Russians fell back in love with the KGB and Stalin|journal=The Polish Quarterly of International Affairs|date=2013|volume=22|issue=2|pages=111–124|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/058261a71237054d5fb4c503a68d6d7c/1}}</ref> According to political scientist [[Georgy Arbatov]], Andropov is responsible for many injustices in the 1970s and early 1980s: deportations, political arrests, persecuting dissidents, the abuse of psychiatry, and notorious cases such as the persecution of academician [[Andrei Sakharov]].<ref>{{cite book|author =Arbatov, Georgy|title=The System: An Insider's Life in Soviet Politics|date=1992|publisher=Times Books|isbn=978-0812919707|page=270|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cm5pAAAAMAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author =Neimanis, George|title=The view from inside: A review essay|journal=[[Journal of Baltic Studies]]|date=Summer 1993|volume=24|issue=2|pages=201–206|doi=10.1080/01629779300000071}}</ref> According to [[Dmitri Volkogonov]] and [[Harold Shukman]], Andropov approved the numerous trials of human rights activists such as [[Andrei Amalrik]], [[Vladimir Bukovsky]], [[Viacheslav Chornovil]], [[Zviad Gamsakhurdia]], [[Alexander Ginzburg]], [[Natalya Gorbanevskaya]], [[Petro Grigorenko]], and [[Natan Sharansky|Anatoly Sharansky]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Volkogonov, Dmitri |author2=Shukman, Harold |title=Autopsy for an empire: the seven leaders who built the Soviet regime|date=1998|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0684834207|page=342|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S5XlHA_75YwC&pg=PA342}}</ref>

According to [[Natalya Gorbanevskaya]], after Andropov came to power the dissident movement went into decline, not on its own but because it was strangled.<ref name=Kashin>{{cite journal|author =Кашин, Олег|title=Хроника утекших событий. Наталья Горбаневская: немонотонная речь|journal=Русская жизнь|date=22 May 2008|url=http://rulife.ru/mode/article/725/|trans-title=A Chronicle of Past Events. Natalya Gorbanevskaya: non-monotonous speech|language=ru}}</ref> In the late 1970s and early 1980s, repression was most severe; many people were arrested a second time and sentenced to longer terms. The camp regime was not strict but specific, and when Andropov became [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|General Secretary]], he introduced an Article under which violations of camp regime resulted in a punishment cell and an additional term up to three years. For two or three remarks a person could be sent to another camp with non-political criminals.<ref name=Kashin/> In those years, there were many deaths in camps from disease and lack of medical care.<ref name=Kashin/>

===Attitudes among Russian leaders===
In a message read at the opening of a new exhibition dedicated to Andropov, [[Vladimir Putin]] called him "a man of talent with great abilities."<ref>{{cite news |author=Miletitch, Nicolas |date=29 July 2014 |title=Andropov birth centenary evokes nostalgia for Soviet hardliner |url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Arts-and-Ent/Culture/2014/Jul-29/265406-andropov-birth-centenary-evokes-nostalgia-for-soviet-hardliner.ashx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729120037/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Arts-and-Ent/Culture/2014/Jul-29/265406-andropov-birth-centenary-evokes-nostalgia-for-soviet-hardliner.ashx |archive-date=29 July 2014 |work=[[The Daily Star (Lebanon)]]}}</ref> Putin has praised Andropov's "honesty and uprightness".<ref>{{cite news|title=Putin puts Yuri Andropov back on his pedestal|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/putin-puts-yuri-andropov-back-on-his-pedestal-1.1145047|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|date=16 June 2004}}</ref>