MOSCOW EXPELS 5 AND BARS U.S. USE OF RUSSIAN AIDES
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CIA-RDP90-00806R000201100069-2
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RIPPUB
Original Classification:
K
Document Page Count:
1
Document Creation Date:
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date:
July 6, 2010
Sequence Number:
69
Case Number:
Publication Date:
October 24, 1986
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ARTI AP~ Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/06: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201100069-2
ONPAOB.lZ1.~ NEW YORK TIMES
24 October 1986
MOSCOWEXPELS 5
AND BARS
U. S. USE
OF RUSSIAN AIDES
By SERGE SCHMEMANN
Special to The New York Times
MOSCOW, Oct. 22 - Striking in an-
other round of the diplomatic expul-
sions, the Soviet Union said today that
five more staff members of the United
States Embassy would have to leave
and that all 260 Soviet employees of the
embassy would be withdrawn.
The Soviet Government further im=posed restrictions on the number .of
Americans who could be stationed in
the embassy for temporary duty and
on the number of foreign house guests
invited by American diplomats.
Gennadi I. Gerasimov, the Foreign
Ministry spokesman, in announcing the
latest expulsions, said other steps
would be taken if the United States con-
tinued its "discriminatory practices"
toward Soviet missions.
Original U.S. Expulsion
The Soviet steps were ordered after
the United States expelled five Soviet
diplomats and, in addition, ordered 50
others to leave view to equalize the em-
bassy staffs of the two countries at 251
each.
In a televised speech today about his
meeting in Iceland with President Rea-
gan, Mikhail S. Gorbachev said that the
expulsions by the United States after so
important an event appeared "wild to
normal people."
"We do not intend to allow such an
outrage," he said.
[In Washington, the White House
reacted to the Gorbachev speech W
saying that the two side seemed-k?,
accord on the need for arms controk-'
The United States seemed relieved
that Moscow had expelled only five
Americans in the latest retaliation.
State Department officials said they
were weighing whether to call a
truce or respond in kind. Page A13,
[Other officials said all the Soviet of-
ficials suspected of being major spies
would leave the United States as a re-
sult of the expulsions. Page A11.1
'This Is Not Our Game'
Mr. Gerasimov said the Soviet Upson
was prepared to end the mutual expul-
sions If the United States was.
"This is not our game," he said. "But
if you want to play the game of petty
reciprocity, we will play."
The American expulsion of 55 Soet
personnel had followed the first expul-
sion of five diplomats from the S4 let
Union, in retaliation for the United
States' original ouster of 25 members
of the Soviet Mission to the United Na-
tions that started the whole process.
Mr. Gerasimov, the Foreign Ministry
spokesman, said the Soviet expulsion of
the first five on Sunday had been a
"measured response" to the American
expulsion of the original 25.
"The U.S. Government chose the
path of escalation," he said, alluding to
the expulsion of 55 on Tuesday.
"Here is our response," he added,
referring to today's actions. "Now let's
draw the line."
Echoing the United States' argu-
ments, Mr. Gerasimov said that the
purpose of the latest expulsions was to
equalize number of diplomatic person-
nel assigned to each other's countries.
He said the United States, in its calcu-
lations, had ignored Soviet employees
at American missions in the Soviet
Union, diplomatti on temporary duty
and the house guests who, he said, often
came to work at the embassy.
He said there were 220 Americans at
the embassy here-and 25 at the consul-
ate general in Leningrad as well as 260
Soviet employees. In addition, he said,
about 500 Americans came each year
for temporary duty, and there were 200
house guests annually. Ambassador
Arthur A. Hartman, he said, had 63
guests last year.
Five Americans Identified
By contrast, he said, the Soviet Em-
bassy In Washington and the consulate
in San Francisco have only a handful of
American employees and rarely had
temporary staff or guests.
The five Americans ordered out to-
day were: Capt. Thomas T. Holme Jr.,
naval attache; Col. Richard M. Naab,
army attache; Michael Morgan, a sec-
ond secretary; Michael A. Matera, a
third secretary, and Daniel P. Gross-
man, a vice consul in Leningrad.
The greatest effect, however, is
likely to be the departure of the 260
Soviet service employees - house-
maids, chauffeurs, maintenance work-
ers, mechanics, secretaries and clerks.
All are supplied to diplomatic missions
here - and to foreign residents in gen-
eral - by a Foreign Ministry agency
called the Administration of Services
for the Diplomatic Corps, which also
manages apartments occupied by for-
ign residents and handles many pt
their travel and recreation requests.
The Soviet employees in the United
States Embassy, a nine-story building,
have been restricted to the basement
and the ground floor, where consular
and cultural affairs are handled and
where the embassy has its garages, re-
pair shops, nursery school, library,
clinic and cafeteria.
Many of the Soviet employees have
worked at the embassy for years, han-
dling the complex dealings with the
Soviet Government bureaucracy in
making travel arrangements, procur-
ing supplies, arranging tickets to cul-
tural events, translating open docu-
ments and explaining the intricacies of
Soviet life.
Congress Opposed Soviet Workers
Some members of Congress contend
that the Soviet employees pose a se-
curity risk and should have been dis-
missed a long time ago. No diplomat
would deny that the Soviet employees
have to report regularly on the activi-
ties of their employers.
But Ambassador Hartman contends
that the employees, many of them cul-
tivated people, have been one of the few
contacts that the Americans, many of
them non-Russian speakers, have had
with the Soviet world.
The use of the Soviet service employ-
ees has also been considerably less ex-
pensive than would be the employment
of Americans in Moscow. Salaries for
the Soviet staff range from 250 to 400
rubles ($350 to $560) a month, and they
require no housing, schooling, travel or
other expensive allowances supplied to
United States Government employees.
When Mr. Gerasimov was reminded
of Congressional efforts to eliminate
the Soviet nationals from embassy em-
ployment, he said with a smile that the
Soviet Union was acting to accommo-
date those demands.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/06: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201100069-2