TASS REFUTES REPORT OF SOVIET A-BOMBS FOR EGYPT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: Library of Congress
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): LOC-HAK-187-4-17-2
• Release Decision: RIFLIM
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: January 11, 2017
• Document Release Date: August 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: October 31, 1973
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

No Objection to Declassification in Full 2010/08/02: LOC-HAK-187-4-17-2
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FBIS 110
TASS REFUTES REPORT OF SOVIET A-BOMBS FOR EGYPT
L311638 MOSCOW TASS INTERNATIONAL SERVICE IN RUSSIAN 1145 GMT
31 OCT 7S L
(TEXT) MOSCOW, 31 OCTOBER---TASS OBSERVER VLADIMIR GONCHAROV
WR ITES.?
THE FRENCH NEWSPAPER AURORE HAS STUNNED ITS READERS WITH A
STAGGERING REPORT. IN AN ARTICLE DEVOTED TO THE NEAR EAST CONFLICT
IT PROCLAIMED: "RUSSIAN ATOM BOMBS ARE READY FOR TRANSPORT
TO EGYPT."
HAVING MADE THIS. 'STRIKING STATEMENT THE AUTHOR OF THE ARTICLE,
ONE MONSIEUR (D' HARCOORT) DOES NOT MAKE THE SLIGHTEST MENTION
OF WHERE HE OBTAINED SUCH A SENSATIONAL INFORMATION. OF COURSE,
THE IMAGINATIVE READER WILL UNDERSTAND BY HIMSELF THAT THE OVERZEALOUS
JOURNALIST HAD AT LEAST TWO METHODS AT HIS DISPOSAL: FIRST,
TO SPIN IT OUT OF THIN AIR; SECOND, TO MAKE IT UP. WE DO NOT
KNOW WHICH OF THE TWO (D' HARCOURT) US D; WHAT IS CLEAR,
}HOWEVER, IS THE AIM OF THIS LATEST. L' AURORE ANTI-SOVIET LIE.
IT IS CHARACTERISTIC OF L'AURORE TO RELEASE THE STORY 30 OCTOBER,
AFTER THE FLAMES OF THE CONFLAGRATION IN THE NEAR EAST HAD
BEEN PUT OUT. THIS IS EVIDENTLY NOT TO THE LIKING OF THE FRENCH
REACTIONARY PAPER AND SO IT HASTENED TO DROP A FAIR AMOUNT
OF FUEL INTO THE DYING FIRE.
IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT THE WEST EUROPEAN PRESS HAS BEEN VERY
SCEPTICAL ABOUT RECENT ATTEMPTS BY AMERICAN OFFICIALS TO JUSTIFY
THE BRINGING OF U.S. ARMED FORCES, INCLUDING THOSE IN EUROPE,
INTO INCREASED READINESS BY MEANS OF UNSUBSTANTIATED "INFORMATION"
ABOUT SOME KIND OF SOVIET ACTIONS ALLEGEDLY GIVING CAUSE FOR
"CONCERN". THE FRENCH PRESS, IN WHICH VOLTAIREAN TRADITIONS ARE
STILL ALIVE, HAS MET THESE ATTEMPTS WITH PARTICULAR SCEPTICISM.
YET, AS WE SEE, SOME L' AURORE JOURNALISTS, UNLIKE THEIR COLLEAGUES,
FABRICATE SIMILAR "INFORMATION" THEMSELVES.
IN HIS SPEECH TO THE WORLD CONGRESS OF PEACE FORCES IN
MOSCOW GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE CPSU CENTRAL COMMITTEE LEONID
EREZHNEV MADE SPECIAL MENTION OF THE "ARTIFICIAL WHIPPING-UP
OF PASSIONS BY MEANS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF VARIOUS FANTASTIC
CONJECTURES ABOUT THE INTENTIONS OF THE 'SOVIET UNION IN THE NEAR
EAST."
THE "SENSATION" COOKED UP IN L'AURORE IS A TYPICAL SAMPLE OF
SUCH CONJECTURES: UNWISE, CLUMSY AND MOST HARMFUL CONJECTURES.
31 OCT 1855Z HWM/JZ
No Objection to Declassification in Full 2010/08/02 : LOC-HAK-187-4-17-2