SOVIET NOT PREPARED TO CUT U.N. STAFF, ENVOY SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000705970012-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: September 13, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/12 :CIA-RDP90-009658000705970012-4
ARTICLE AF'PF,(1R1~Q 13 September~1986
Irv PAGE ,~
S
~Sooiet Not Prepared to Cut U.N. Staff, Envoy Says.
h- !ELAINE ~Oft~l
~W ~ Tr Ylw Yet Tls
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., Sept.12 -.
Order From Reagan
"The sooner this episode is behind
us, the better it will be for Soviet-Amer- ~
icon relations." ,
? Last March, the Reagan Administra-
on both sides to resolve the matter'
through negotiations. It that tailed, he
could have convened athree-member
tribunal to resolve the dispute, in ac-
cordance with the 1947 Headquarters
Agreement, a treaty between the
United States and the United Nations
that determined the privileges and im-
munities of the UNted Nations head-
quarters.
comply- with a Reagan Administration 'lion ordered the Soviet, Ukrainian and
order to reduce the size of its mission Byelorussian missi~xts to the United
to the United Nations by the beginning Nations to reduce their staff by more
of itext month, the chief Soviet delegate. than a third by April 1988, accusing
said ~?y; them of spying and calling the size of
The delegate, Aleksandr M. Belono-
Igoe, speaking at a news conference,
called the American order to' reduce
the size of mission empbyees from 243
to 218 by Oct. 1 illegal.
"you see, we c~nnsider the action by
the United States Gmiernment as abso-
lutely illegal and running csmtrary to
the agreement between the United Na-
tions and the UNted States Govern-
merttwhen our organizationwas estab-
lislred," said Mr. Belotrogw, who as-
their missions "a threat to national se-
curity." .
The first phase of the reduction is to
be completed Oct. 1, when the SWiet
mission is to cut its staff from 243 to 218
employees. That deadWte is regarded
as a test case of the Soviet willingness
to go along with an Administratiart
decision designed to reduce the level of
ability by the three misaiona to spy.
Asked what preparatiaas he was
making to implement *he first cut. Mr. ~
sumed the position aT chief United Na? Bekmagov saM, "We are not in any
lions delegate in July. "And we still , stage of preparation for that."
think that there is time for the United American officials said they believe
mind.~~ government to change tts .i the Russians wW probably comply with
will not
h the
thou
ven
h
d
ing to comply with the American order,.
he said, '.'If you would like to interpret
it in that way, you may. But it's your
conclusion."
A Nucbar Conkrence
Mr. Bekirtagov made his statements
in answer to questions posed toward-
the end of a news conference called to
brief Journalists on. Soviet policy to re-
train from nuclear explosions on its
territory. There appeared to be no con-
nect~n between the press conference.
and the release today of Gennadl F. Za-
kharov, a Soviet empk-yce at the
United Nations, and of Nicholas S.
iDanilott, an American journalist in
Moscow to their respective govern-
~ments, and American officials down-
played the significance of his remarks.
In fact, when Mr. Belonagov was
asked what the next development in the
Zakharov-Danilotf case would be, he
said, "We do really hope this is a tem-
poraryphase. But at this moment, I am
not in a position to indulge in any sup-
positions."
As for whether the Zakharov-Danll-
oft incident would damage' "Soviet-
American relations, Mr. Belonogov
said, "That all depends to what extent
a particular government wants to
make this matter worsen relations. As
far as the Soviet Government is con- ~
corned, we are not interested in vwrs- i
ening Soviet-American relations. We
are working for quite contrary aims.
y
g
o r e
t
e r
e
admit it.
"The U.S. mission has nothing to in-
dicate that the Soviets are not going to
meet the time schedule, although we
understand that they're not going to
give up their legal position," said Rich-
ard C. Hottelet, chief spokesman for
the American missian. "We also under-
stand that the reductions are on sched-
ule."
Mr. Hottelet added that "there have
been discussions, there have been con-
tacts" between American and Soviet
officials on the subject.
United States officials have said little
about Soviet compliance with the or-
der, in part to allow any reduction to
take place quietly.
At the time of the American order, a
number of American legal experts
questioned lts legality, saying that the
United States could order foreign diplo-
mats from the country only in specific
cases where it was proven that they
had misused their positions. However,
other experts said that the United
States did have the right to demand
that a mission's size Is "reasonable"
for the job it must perform.
The order called on the Soviet Mis-
sion to reduce its stet! from 243 to 170
by April 1, 1988, and for Byelorussia
and the Ukraine, Soviet provinces with
separate membership in the United
Nations, to reduce thetr staffs from 32
to 20 by April 1, 1988.
In response to the order, Secretary
General Javier i?trez de Cuellar called
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/12 :CIA-RDP90-009658000705970012-4