U.S. CALLS SOVIET PULLOUT 'BLATANT POLITICAL ACTION'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200860018-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 24, 2010
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: May 9, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/24: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200860018-6
ARTICLE AVIFEARED NEST YORK MMES
ON PAGE / , 9 May 1984
U.S. Calls Soviet Pullout
,`Blatant. Political Action'.
By BERNARD GWER I-L MIAN
? ipudtltoTtrN*Wy ttTWM
WkHINGTON, May 8 - The Rea.
gan Administration said today that the
Soviet decision not to take part in this
summer's Olympic Games in Los An-
geleswas "a blatant political action for
which them was no real justification."
Although the Soviet authorities had
been hinting for more than a month
that they might keep their team away
from Los Angeles, most Government
expe on the Soviet Union were sur-
sed by today's announcement by the
Soviet press agency Tess.
White House and State Department
offic>,els, as well as several members of
Congress, heatedly denied charges the
made in justifying their ded-
sion.
Tli? Soviet National Olympic Team,
in announcing that the American Du-
thotitfes had made it "impossible" for
it to participate in the Games, accused
the : nited States of inadequate so-
curityarrangements and of encourag-
ing" "extremist organizations" to
create "unbearable conditions" for the
Soviet athletes.
- Soviet Motivation Assessed
John' Hughes, the State Department
spokesman, said that after the Tess
statement the United States "con-
firmed' through diplomatic channels"
that the Soviet team does not intend to
participate in the?OUII Olympiad.
Ser~edialistsin ti~te Departaieit
and the central Intel ige gercy
&ffe-reTtoday over the Soviet mots -
on but there was, BLt=gly
that the action was at least partly ip.M
taiaatio'n for the American gg& f
L?/,U the ex.
pertr~aierviewed also said that with)
Soviet 'American relations at a verylow ebb, the decision to stay away um.
derscored Moscow's refusal to appear
conciliatory to the Reagan Administra-
tion.
Although Konstantin U. Chernenko,
tl?e,-.Soviet leader, has denied that
Soviet actions have had anything to do
with 7. nerican politics, senior Admin.
istration officials are convinced that
Moscow hopes Mr. Reagan will be de-
rested in November and is trying to do
whatever it can not to help him in his
re-election bid.
The Russians have refused to resume
negotiations on nuclear arms control,
and they have rejected American initi-
atives is recent months on such mat.
ten as banning chemical weapons and
cutting conventional force levels in
Cantral Europe. They
have also re.
bused to sign a routine technical accord
on improving the hot line between
Washington and Moscow.
But the Soviet actions have not nec-
essarily damaged the - President.
Today, for instance, even Democrats in
Congress criticized the Soviet action,
and no statements were issued here
blaming Mr. Reagan for it. .
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/24: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200860018-6