TITO’S TOUR OF MOSCOW

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27986, 5 June 1956, Page 11

TITO’S TOUR OF MOSCOW

Formal Talks To

Begin

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) MOSCOW. June 4. Th e President of Jugoslavia (Marshal Tito) will begin the formal business of his State visit to Russia today with courtesy calls on the Soviet Prime Minister (Marshal Bulganin) and the Communist Party leader (Mr Khrushchev).

Marshal Tito is believed to have had an informal preliminary exchange of views already with the Soviet leaders, in preparation for the formal talks, which open tomorrow. The two sides are expected to survey relations which have developed since the Soviet leaders went to Belgrade in May last year to “bury the hatchet” after the seven-year SovietJugoslav quarrel. The Rusianfe then blamed Lavrenti Beria, the executed Soviet security chief, for the rift.

Diplomats believe that Soviet action to end Stalinism, and possibly closer ties between the two countries’ Communist Parties, are high on the agenda for the talks '

Sightseeing in Moscow Excited Russians crowded round Tito and Mr Khrushchev as they walked in Moscow’s Gorki street.

The cheering crowds engulfed Marshal Tito and his attractive wife as they stepped with Mr Khrushchev out of a luxury limousine for a brief, unscheduled sightseeing trip in the city

Several hundred evening strollers swept around the party as they walked for 400 yards up the street to the City Council building and back again to their car

Then Major-General Sergei Zakharov, a Soviet security chief, cleared the way to let the party escape into an ice-cream parlour, where they ate ice-cream

The sightseeing expedition, which was a complete surprise to Jugoslav officials, followed a six-hour tour of Moscow’s agriculture exhibition by Marshal Tito and the Soviet leaders, and a river trip by motor-boat.

The brief encounter with the Gorki street throng was Marshal Tito’s closest meeting with a friendly Moscow crowd since he arrived yesterday for a three weeks’ official visit.

Earlier, Marshal Tito, with Mr Khrushchev and other Soviet leaders, drove in open cars for nearly an hour across Moscow from the agriculture exhibition.

The Soviet leaders accompanied Marshal Tito to a country house, 15 miles from Moscow, where he walked in the pine woods. This house was used by the Indian Prime Minister (Mr Nehru) last summer. and was the scene of secret talks between the Soviet leaders and the West German Chancellor (Dr. Adenauer) in September.