Ailing but Determined

It was the ambulance that was the tipoff. Few Czechoslovaks paid much heed last week when they glimpsed a sleek, Soviet-made ZIL 114 limousine speeding through the streets of Prague with dark green curtains drawn over the rear and side windows--especially not with a Communist Party congress under way. Senior party officials often travel in such cars with drawn curtains. But the limo was followed closely by an obviously well-equipped Mercedes-Benz ambulance. That was a dead giveaway that the VIP passenger was none other than ailing, 74-year-old Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev, whose battle with the infirmities of old age has become nearly as legendary as the formidable power he wields.

On his arrival at Prague's smoked glass and concrete Palace of Culture, Brezhnev did not look like a sick man. But appearances were deceiving. His eleven-page 22-minute address to the congress was remarkably brief compared with some of his three-and four-hour Moscow marathons, and it was delivered in the halting, distorted manner that first began raising questions about his health in 1974. His face appeared puffy, waxen and occasionally flushed, possibly because of the cortisone treatment he is said to receive. Attentive aides were constantly at Brezhnev's side, helping him out of his car or as he made his way in a slow, deliberate shuffle upstairs. At one point during the congress, television cameras caught the Soviet President nodding off in the midst of a droning address.

Even so, Brezhnev seemed far more alert last week than he did at the 1979 Vienna summit with Jimmy Carter, when he nearly toppled down a flight of stairs. In Prague he attended a concert and two receptions that required long periods of standing. He spent at least one morning in taxing discussions about the Polish crisis with party officials from other countries. But he was rarely seen in public, and between congress sessions spent long periods napping, either in his suite at the presidential palace overlooking Prague's historic Charles Bridge and the Vltava River, or in special rooms reserved for him at the Palace of Culture itself. Both places, it was reported, were outfitted with special oxygen and medical equipment. As is usually the case when he travels abroad, he was accompanied by a doctor with selected medicines and supplies of his blood type at the ready.

Precisely what ails Brezhnev is a closely guarded secret, known only to a handful of Kremlin insiders. Speculation has included cancer of the jaw, emphysema, heart disease, gout, leukemia and an ailment called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis that causes progressive muscular deterioration.

Whatever the cause, Brezhnev's condition requires careful husbanding of his energies. Said a Western observer in Prague last week: "Brezhnev pays a price for trips like this. At his age he has to rest for several days afterward to regain his strength." All too obviously, traveling takes its toll on the man who once gloried in boar hunts, flashy Western automobiles, good food and drink and, not least, the sociable company of attractive women.

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