SOVIET UNION EASTERN EUROPE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00865A000700080001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 5, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: April 2, 1975
• Content Type: NOTES

///K
Approved For Release 2001/07/30 : CIA-RDP79T00865A00070008000 -7
ecret
No Foreign Dissem
Soviet Union
Eastern Europe
Secret
1.62
April 2, 1975
SC No. 00402/75
Approved For Release 2001/07/30 : CIA-RDP79T00865A000700080001-7
 Approved For Release 2001/07/30 : CIA-RDP79T00865A000700080001-7
Warning Notice
Sensitive Intelligence Sources and Methods Involved
NATIONAL SECURITY INFORMATION
Unauthorized Disclosure Subject to Criminal Sanctions
Classified by 005827
Exempt from general declassification schedule
of E. 0. 11652, exemption category:
? 5B (1), (2), and (3)
Automatically declassified
on: Date Impossible to Determine
Approved For Release 2001/07/30 : CIA-RDP79T00865A000700080001-7
 Approved For Release 2001/07 e9tTFg?T(9Kt5A000700080001-7
SOVIET UNION - EASTERN EUROPE
This publication is prepared for regional specialists in the Washington com-
munity by the USSR - Eastern Europe Division, Office of Current Intel-
ligence, with occasional contributions from other offices within the
Directorate of Intelligence. Comments and queries are welcome. They should
be directed to the authors of the individual articles.
April 2, 1975
Waiting for Brezhnev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
VE Ceremonies in Czechoslovakia:
A Vo Zte-Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
From Russia, with Typewriter. . .
Approved For Release 2001/07/,tE6R 76-'4000700080001-7
 Approved For Release 2001/c 4TRD lPe6 65A000700080001-7
Waiting for Brezhnev
A Soviet diplomat in Belgrade noted recently
that no Brezhnev visit to Yugoslavia is on the
immediate horizon, but that the subject would be
discussed with Yugoslav Premier Bijedic when he
is in the USSR this month. He suggested that such
a visit might be appropriate as a "balance" to
President Ford's proposed trip to Belgrade next
summer.
Rumors of an impending Brezhnev visit have
been circulating in Belgrade since last fall. At
one time it looked as though the Soviet leader
would stop in Yugoslavia on his way to or from the
Middle East during the winter. Brezhnev's health
may have upset plans for a Yugoslav trip, but it
is also possible that Belgrade is dragging its feet.
One problem facing both sides is that Yugoslavia is
expected to demand a forthright Soviet affirmation
of previous pledges of noninterference in Yugoslav
affairs in light of the Cominformist revelations.
The Soviets would be willing to make such a pledge
in general terms, but obviously would hope to avoid
acknowledging even an implicit link with the Comin?
formists. (CONFIDENTIAL)
April 2, 1975
Approved For Release 2001/07/3Q'C A PbP Jr Il 66A000700080001-7
 Approved For Release 2001 /07 ?(.bF)IFORBA000700080001-7
VE Ceremonies in Czechoslovakia:
A VcltP.-Face
a'raque will break a long-standing precedent
next month by officially recognizing the US role in
liberating Czechoslovakia during World War II.
The Soviet role in the liberation will, as
always, receive the lion's share of praise. Czecho-
slovak officials informed the US embassy on April
1, however, that delegations from the ministries of
foreign affairs and national defense, plus local
Czech authorities, will participate in ceremonies
that the embassy has planned for May 7 to commem-
orate the liberation of western Bohemia by the US
Third Army.
Prague's voLte-face is consistent with the
regime's earlier decision to mute the annual prop-
,_tganda blast questioning the need for the heavy
bombing of western Bohemian cities by US planes
after the war was "effectively" over. Each of these
decisions honors detente's atmospherics, and they
also reflect Moscow's attempts to drum up support
for the 30th VE anniversary. They have the further
benefit of showing Prague's continued good faith in
the improvement of relations with Washington, which
are still deadlocked over the claims issue. (CONFI-
DENTIAL)
April 2, 1975
Approved For Release 2001/07 .'CIi RTDF~V 69SA000700080001-7
 25X1 D
Approved For Release 2001/07/30 : CIA-RDP79T00865A000700080001-7
Approved For Release 2001/07/30 : CIA-RDP79T00865A000700080001-7
 Approved For Release 2001/07/SE P~V 0 6A000700080001-7
From Russia, with Typewriter
The recent arrival in the US of Yulian Semenov,
here to collect material for a series of Pravda
articles on the "Soviet-American struggle against
Hitlerism," provides a welcome relief from the
steady stream of colorless Soviet bureaucrats visit-
ing the US. Sometimes described as the Russian Ian
Fleming, Semenov is one of the best known Soviet
authors of spy stories and "whodunits," two genres
that have gained a measure of official Soviet ac-
ceptance in recent years as part of an effort to
increase public vigilance against dangerous for-
eign influences and "hooliganism."
Semenov is the author of a number of books on
the Cheka and KGB and a detective story entitled
"Petrovka-38" (the address of Moscow police head-
quarters). His most popular recent work is "Seven-
teen Flashes of Spring," a screenplay that became
the talk of Moscow in 1973, when it was serialized
on Soviet television. The plot of that epic cen-
tered on the World War II exploits of a Soviet
superspy, who confounded double-dealing Americans
and defied death at every turn.
For over a decade following Khrushchev's
denigration of Stalin, much of Semenov's output,
especially for the stage, dealt with the psycho-
logical impact on society and on the individual of
the toppling of an idol. Semenov concentrated
particularly on Stalin's "crimes" against ranking
military leaders purged in the 1930s, and on the
efforts of their children to salvage meaningful
lives. Since the later 1960s, Semenov's writing
has shied away from these anti-Stalinist political
overtones, in line with the Brezhnev regime's "re-
assessment" of the Soviet dictator's virtues. (CON-
FIDENTIAL)
April 2, 1975
Approved For Release 2001/07/61 tqP7c? 6-000700080001-7
 Ap roved For Release 2001/07/30 : CIA-RDP79T00865A000700080001-7
Secret
Secret
Approved For Release 2001/07/30 : CIA-RDP79T00865A000700080001-7