Quotes from world leaders reacting to the death of Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev:
White House statement: 'As leader of the Soviet Union for nearly two decades, President Brezhnev was one of the world's most important figures. President Brezhnev played a very significant role in the shaping of U.S.-Soviet relations during his presidency.
'President Reagan is conveying to the Soviet Government the strong desire of the United States to continue to work for an improved relationship with the Soviet Union and to maintain an active dialogue between our societies on all important issues. The president looks forward to a constructive relationship with the new leadership of the Soviet Union.'
Former President Jimmy Carter: 'I think for a while it will be more confrontational to establish the Soviet strength and credentials and the vigor of the new leadership. They certainly will avoid any confrontation leading to a conflict or any arms confrontation.'
The new leadership 'will try to prove the Soviets are more committed to peace, more committed to nuclear arms control than we are, that they are the so-called heroes for the Third World and we are the villains. And I think after this period which may last a few months or a few weeks, we don't know yet, they'll probably try to accommodate the United States in some of the negotiations.'
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: 'He was boisterous. He was tough. He had a good sense of humor. While he undoubtely was a man of great ruthlessness, he also struck me as man who, when he talked about peace, was quite genuine about it.'
Former President Richard M. Nixon: 'Leonid Brezhnev was a strong leader of a strong people. As a Russian, he was warm, effusive, ebulient. As a communist, he was a ruthless schemer and a relentless aggressor.
'But he was not a madman. He was a realist. If an opponent showed weakness, Brezhnev would take every possible advantage, without scruple. But met with firmness, he would compromise.
'He wanted the world. But he did not want war. If his successor is convinced that we have the strength and the will to resist Soviet aggression, we can avoid both war and defeat without war.'
Former President Gerald Ford: 'His death, I hope, will not lead to a wide swing in Soviet policies that would preclude progress towards a reduction in nuclear weapons and the solution of other problems between the United States and the Soviet Union.'
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India: 'Indo-Soviet friendship and cooperation grew and achieved maturity during President Brezhnev's time. He had a strong personality and was imbued with sturdy realisms.'
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos: Brezhnev's death ended 'an 18-year period of leadership marked by much stability in the Soviet Union's political life.'
Former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt: Brezhnev was committed to 'preventing a new world war: the nuclear catastrophe.'
Secretary of State George Shultz in a message to Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko: 'I can appreciate your sense of loss at the death of a colleague who played such a leading role in your nation and in relations between our two nations. We hope to continue efforts to improve these relations in the future, and I look foward to working with you toward this end.' ---
Japanese Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki: 'The demise of Mr. Brezhnev is a great loss to the government and people of the USSR. Expressing my prayer for the repose of his soul, I would also like to extend my heartfelt condolences to the bereft family and the people of the Soviet Union.' ---
Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig: 'I don't thinkwe want to delude ourselves that by our demeanor ... if we are extraordinarily tolerant of transgression we could perhaps bring a dove into the Kremlin. We must merely conduct our policies as usual.'
Former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski: 'Mr. (Yuri) Andropov by all accounts is a very intelligent, experienced leader, tough minded. He's been extremely effective in suppressing the Soviet dissident movement, but doing so with skill rather than with heavy handed brutality. The point, however, is that he's 68. His most immediate rival, Mr. (Konstantin) Chernenko is 70-71, and thus the successors to Mr. Brezhnev are themselves likely to be transitional figures. I do not believe that Western proposals right now would result in any breakthrough.'
Former Secretary of State Dean Rusk: 'For the time being I should think we would be in a holding pattern. There are lots of questions in our minds to which there are no answers. That should not embarrass us because it may well be that people in the Politburo don't have those answers at the moment. The period of transition does open up certain possibilities, because at the end of the day we and the Soviet Union must still find a way to inhabit this speck of dust in the universe at the same time. But we won't know what the possiblities are for awhile until their leadership shakes down and we know with whom we're dealing and we know what their attitudes and approach will be.'
French Communist Party leader Georges Marchais: History will remember Brezhnev for his 'will during tumultuous circumstances to avoid a world war.'
Speaker of the Strasbourg-based European parliament, Piet Dankert: It is hoped that the new Soviet leadership 'will move to greater cooperation and understanding with its Western neighbors, particularly in matters of disarmament and human rights.'
W. Averell Harriman, U.S. ambassador to Moscow in World War II: 'Brezhnev himself told me how important that is (to negotiate peace with the United States), as he was a member of the generation which knows fully the trauma of war and the 20 million Soviet dead. It is with this generation that we must negotiate and with whom we can negotiate.
'This is a loss for both the United States and the Soviet Union, particularly as Brezhnev wanted peace as much as we, and he wanted to negotiate.'
Former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt: 'My guess would be that the Soviet leadership will now try to pursue a line of continuity in security policy -- certainly they will try to present an image of continuity.
'I am convinced that Brezhnev's policies towards the West were an important contribution to what we all desire in Europe: a policy of cooperation and detente based on military parity.'
Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme: 'Leonid Brezhnev had a sincere interest in international detente and peaceful coexistence. During my talks and discussions with him over the years I had the impression of a man personally engaged in disarmament.'
Finnish President Mauno Koivisto: 'Finland will remember Leonid Brezhnev as one of the greatest statesmen of our time and especially for his efforts for peace and the peaceful cooperation between nations.'
Danish Prime Minister Poul Schluter: 'One of the Soviet Union's greatest statesmen has left international politics. In the Western world, President Brezhnev will be remembered for the openings that the Soviet Union made in the early '70s and his great efforts to further peace and cooperation between East and West.'
Norwegian Prime Minister Kaare Willoch: 'Under his leadership the Soviet Union strengthened its position as a world power. His name will be connected to the Brezhnev-doctrine over Eastern Europe, to the last year's activities in Afghanistan and Poland and to the present Soviet rearmament.'
Chairman and chief executive officer of Occidental Petroleum Corp., Dr. Armand Hammer: 'It was with dismay and the feeling of personal loss that I learned of the death of President Brezhnev. He was a staunch protagonist of peace and coexistence between the Soviet Union and the peoples of the West. President Brezhnev, I believe, realized the importance of peaceful relations between the Soviet Union and the United States. I hope that will continue under whoever succeeds the late president. In my opinion, the peace of the world depends on it.'
Pakistan's military president Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq: 'We join the people of the U.S.S.R. in mourning the irreparable loss of their illustrious leader. President Brezhnev's initiatives in the pursuit of universal disarmament offered a ray of hope to a world riven with turmoil and strife.'
East German president and party leader Erich Honecker: Praised Brezhnev's 'great contribution' to the Soviet bloc's 'brotherly federation.'
Indonesian Moslem opposition leader Amin Iskandar: 'Brezhnev was a great leader for his nation, a hero of World War II and he achieved a lot for the development of his country. Under his leadership, the Soviet Union built up its military strength, unfortunately for us, but he also built up the economy of his nation, fortunately for his fellow countrymen.'
Netherlands government statement: 'With the death of President Brezhnev we have lost a personality who, apart from his particular significance for the Soviet Union, played a striking role in world events. He left his stamp on many international developments of fundamental importance and, in particular, on the relations between East and West.'
Chaiman of the Communist Party of the Netherlands, Henk Hoekstra: 'It has been a time of serious crisis in the communist movement, not least because of the interventions in Afghanistan and the event in Poland. I am forced to wonder to what degree Brezhnev, who has been in poor health for years, was able to enforce his views.'
French President Francois Mitterrand: Brezhnev was 'a great leader of the Soviet Union, a stateman whose eminent role in the world will be remembered by history.'
Polish government statement: Brezhnev's death was a 'great loss ... because (he) was during his entire time of leadership an ardent supporter of good, constructive relations.'
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II: 'I have learned with regret of the death of President Brezhnev. In my own name and on behalf of the British people, I send our sympathy to you and the people of the Soviet Union.'
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: 'On behalf of Her Majesty's government I send to you and the people of the Soviet Union our condolence on the death of President L. I. Brezhnev. ... his wide-ranging and long experience in different fields of public life will be a serious loss to the Soviet Union. The consequences of his death will be felt far beyond the frontiers of his own country.'
Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau: 'I think it was an advantage to Canada and the Western world that (he brought) predictability and stability in the direction he gave to the policies of the Soviet Union. I sincerely believe he was a man who wanted peace. I may disagree with his ideology but I would think that in his heart he wanted peace for his people.'
Alain Krivine, of the Trotskyite French party Revolutionary Communist League: 'Brezhnev is dead but happily Solidarnosc (Polish trade union Solidarity) still lives and that's essential. Contrary to the hypocrites, we have not one tear for the hangman of Prague, Kabul and Warsaw.
'Our thought today is for those who stagnate in the camps and psychiatric hospitals and our salute is for the Soviet working class which one day will bury Stalinism for good and rehabilitate socialism.'
Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere: 'A great blow to the people of the world.'
Yugoslav Communist Party President Mitja Ribicic: '(Yugoslavia) highly appreciates a contribution which Leonid Brezhnev ... made to the development of Yugoslav-Soviet relations on the basis of mutual respect, independence, equality and non-interference.'
Italian Prime Minister Giovanni Spadolini: 'Brezhnev, as the leader of a power which holds great responsibilities on the world plane, has made a contribution which we hope will not be dispersed by his successors.'
Italian Communist Party, the largest communist party in the West: 'We recall in particular the strenuous combatant of the anti-fascist war, his commitment and hard striving in leading the Soviet state and party.'
Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba: 'President Brezhnev will be remembered ... as a man who consolidated the acquisitions of socialist society ... he remains also an example of a partisan convinced of peace, peaceful coexistence and cooperation between peoples.'
Egyptian State Minister for Foreign Affairs Butros Ghali: 'This is a cause for sadness. The disappearance of the president of the Soviet Union is an event that must have repercussions throughout the world.'
President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly, Maurice Faure: 'The events of Afghanistan and Poland threw a shadow on his image, but from unmistakable signs one can affirm he wished a reactivation of dialogue with the West on disarmament and cooperation, as well as normalization of relations with China.
