A Scion from the Kremlin

The tall, bespectacled young Soviet diplomat drew world attention last February as a grieving figure alongside his father's flower-decked bier. Last week Greek officials announced that Igor Andropov, 38, son of the late Soviet leader, had been named Ambassador to Athens.

At the time of Yuri Andropov's death, his unassuming, English-speaking son was serving as assistant to Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko at the Stockholm conference on European security. His new assignment, which needs formal Greek approval, may be considerably more important to the Kremlin. Although Greece is a NATO member, the government of Socialist Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou has opposed the alliance's deployment of intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Western Europe. Greece recently provoked Washington's ire by describing the U.S. as "the expansionist metropolis of imperialism." Papandreou has also asserted that the Soviet Union is incapable of imperialism because of the nature of its economic system. By nominating Andropov, Moscow may be signaling its solicitude both for Greece and for one of its own most illustrious scions.