SOVIET SAYS U.S. DEMAND TO TRIP U.N. STAFF DAMAGES RELATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201110019-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 21, 2010
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: March 12, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/21 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000201110019-6
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WASHINGTON POST
12 March 1986
Soviet Says U.S. Demand to Trim U.N. Staff
Washington Post Foreign Service
MOSCOW, March 11-The Soviet Union
)day sharply protested Washington's de-
iiand for a 40 percent reduction in Soviet
rsonnel at U.N. headquarters, warning
at such actions "do direct damage" to
'.S.-Soviet relations and hamper prepara-
'ions for the summit meeting planned later
this year between the U.S. and Soviet lead-
s.
A senior Soviet official delivered the pro-
test orally in a half-hour meeting at the For-
eign Ministry with Richard Combs, charge
d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy here.
The Soviet Union called the U.S. demand
arbitrary," "defiant," "unlawful" and "utter-
iy illegitimate," according to a text of the
protest released by the official news agency
lass after the meeting. ,
"The U.S. administration must appreciate
that such actions strengthen mistrust of its
policies and by no means create a favorable
background for the summit," the statement
said. Full responsibility for its conse-
quences, it said, "will rest entirely with the
U.S. side."
The Soviet Union "cannot pass such un-
lawful actions over," the statement said,
"and will have to draw appropriate conclu-
sions for itself."
Combs responded by reiterating the U.S.
position that the current high number of
Soviet staffers at the United Nations poses
a threat to U.S. security.
Last Friday the United States ordered
Moscow to cut its U.N. staff from 275 to
170. Reagan administration officials have
long complained about the large number of
Soviet officials at the United Nations and
elsewhere in the United States. In addition
to its U.N. staffers, the Soviet Union has
about 320 staffers at its Washington embas-
sy and San Francisco consulate.
By comparison, the United States has
about 200 diplomats and staffers in its em-
bassy here and about 40 in its consulate in
Leningrad.
"Nothing.., gives the U.S. government
a right to impose numerical restrictions on
the staff levels" of U.N. member nations,
the Tass statement said.
Damages Relations
Comparisons between U.S. and Soviet
U.N. staffs are "utterly illegitimate," the
Soviet protest said. The State Department
and private firms ensure "the functioning of
the U.S. mission," it said, "whereas the So-
viet mission provides everything it needs on
its own."
Moscow said it rejects "as utterly far-
fetched and unfounded," the assertions that
the Soviet U.N. staff "engage in activities
which have no bearing on U.N. work."
Soviet officials reportedly view the order
to cut their U.N staff as part of a series of
recent Reagan administration actions they
consider hostile. President Reagan's re-
sponse last month to Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev's Jan. 15 proposal for worldwide
nuclear disarmament drew criticism here,
including from Gorbachev in a speech Feb.
25.
Tass said today that the order to reduce
Soviet U.N. staffing "reflects the U.S. over-
all approach to the activities of international
organizations." It accused the United States
of several other actions against the United
Nations and related bodies, including "hos-
tile statements" against the United Nations,
"blackmail" against UNESCO "and the cre-
ation of an atmosphere of intimidation aid
terror" around various U.N. missions.
Meanwhile the Soviet news r Pravda
t indicated t t italy urc enko
Soviet defector who returned to Moscow
from the ni States ate st ear, was
Last week National Public Radio quoted
an unidentified Reagan administration
source as saying that he had received two
unverified ' reports that Soviet authorities
had executed Yurchenko by firing squad and
billed his family for the bullets-reports
that the State Department and the White
House said they could not confirm.
While in the custody of the CIA last year
for three months Yurchenko was "jeered:
Pravda said "And now he's aotng Pl1 ay
about it in his ms," whiare beiiia
rpared for it said.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/21 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000201110019-6