Hard-Liner Zaikov Dumped as Moscow Communist Chief

MOSCOW — Hard-line Politburo member Lev Zaikov was removed from his post as Moscow Communist Party chief today, a spokesman at the city party committee said.

Zaikov, 66, appointed to the ruling party Politburo in March, 1986, replaced Kremlin radical Boris N. Yeltsin as Moscow party chief in November of the following year after the latter was sacked for criticizing the slow pace of reform.

It was not clear if Zaikov would remain in the Politburo, but his position appeared extremely shaky.

As Moscow party chief, Zaikov reversed the moderate policies of Yeltsin, cracking down on unauthorized public gatherings and clearing street artists and musicians from public places.

Earlier this year he attacked advocates of radical change, accusing them of “Utopian spirits, heated by a considerable share of ambition and adventurism.”