MOSCOW -- Grigory Romanov, once a rising star in the Soviet bureaucracy, was ousted from the ruling Politburo today and replaced by a man sharing the goals of new leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Two of Gorbachev's close allies were brought into vacant positions as secretaries on the powerful Central Committee -- second in significance only to Politburo membership -- in moves diplomats said showed Gorbachev is firmly in control.
The official Tass news agency said Romanov, who had not been seen in public since May 9, was removed from the 13-member Politburo 'for health reasons' -- a euphemism usually given when members of the Soviet leadership are ousted.
Romanov was replaced by Eduard Shevardnadze, 57, first secretary of the Communist Party of the southern republic of Georgia. Shevardnadze was promoted from non-voting to full Politburo status.
The changes were approved at the regular biennial session of the Communist Party Central Committee, the country's key policy-making body of some 315 members who include all ministers and regional party leaders as well as a few workers and members of the peasantry.
The three new members on Gorbachev's team -- Lev Zaikov, 62, Boris Yeltsin, 55 and Shevardnadze -- are all examples of the new generation of technocrats and anti-corruptionists Gorbachev is bringing into the leadership in an effort to pull the country out of the doldrums.
Zaikov and Yeltsin replace Romanov and also Gorbachev who left one of the nine secretarial posts vacant when he moved up to become first secretary.
Romanov, a rival of Gorbachev, once was tipped as future Soviet leader. He is said to have proposed Moscow party boss Viktor Grishin as leader on the death of Konstantin Chernenko in March.
Shevarnadze, a Gorbachev supporter and one of only two non-Russians now on the Politburo, has been a non-voting member of the Politburo since 1978. Like Gorbachev he is known to be a vigorous campaigner against corruption.
'G.V. Romanov's request to relieve him of the duties of member of the political bureau and secretary of the CPSU Central Committee in connection with retirement on health grounds was satisfied,' Tass said.
Although officials said he was ill, travelers from Georgia reported seeing him on vacation last week in the resort town of Pitsunda in Georgia. Protocol dictated that he should have been met by the first party secretary in Georgia, Shevarnadze, who has now taken his seat on the Politburo.
At the same time, reports of scandals involving Romanov had begun circulating, including one that drunken guests at his daughter's wedding had broken pieces of priceless Catherine the Great china borrowed from the Hermitage museum for the occasion.
Another unverifiable story involved Romanov being arrested with a popular young female singer when their luxury yacht strayed out of Soviet waters.
Removal of a Politburo member is an infrequent occurence and has not happened since Andrei Kirilenko was ousted in November 1982 at age 76 after he reportedly became senile.
The Central Committee session comes on the eve of a meeting of the country's nominal Parliament, the Supreme Soviet, whose 1,500 members unanimously rubber-stamp Central Committee decisions taken the day before.
The Supreme Soviet is expected to unanimously elect a new president to fill the vacancy left by the death of Konstantin Chernenko.
Gorbachev was swiftly selected as Communist Party chairman in March, only hours after the official announcement of Chernenko's death and most Western diplomats expect him to take the presidency.
There were, however, rumors he might give the title of head of state to 75-year-old Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko.
The line of thinking was that if Gromyko became president he could continue to direct foraign policy while Gorbachev continued to focus his attention on domestic issues. It would also allow Gorbachev to name a younger foreign minister to the post that Gromyko has occupied for 29 years.
In thu 1970s under Leonid Brezhnev, five people were removed from the Politburo: Nikolai Podgorny, Kiril Mazurov, Pyotr Shelest, Dmitri Polyansky and R. Shelepin, former head of the KGB.
