WORLD : ‘Voice of <i> Glasnost</i> ‘ to Be Envoy

MOSCOW — Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov, the witty “voice of glasnost “ who gave the Soviet government a human face, has been rewarded with an ambassadorship in a European country, Tass said today.

The Soviet news agency, citing “reliable Foreign Ministry sources,” said Vitaly Churkin, a close aide to Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze, will replace Gerasimov as the chief official contact for several hundred foreign reporters based in Moscow.

Gerasimov was not immediately available for comment. An aide confirmed that he will go to a European capital as a Soviet ambassador but said his exact assignment was not known.

Gerasimov’s droll sense of humor, sometimes acerbic tongue and stylish clothes gave his briefings an air of entertainment as he and correspondents from around the world matched wits in a give-and-take previously unknown in Moscow.