Strong Guard For Mr K. In France

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29153, 14 March 1960, Page 11

Strong Guard For Mr K. In France

(Rec. 10 p.m.)

PARIS, March 12.

Ten thousand uniformed police will be mobilised to guard the Soviet Prime Minister, Mr Khrushchev, when he arrives in Paris on Tuesday. They will be reinforced by 15 units of other police, as well as plainclothes men, firemen and members of the Republican Guard.

The detectives will mingle with the crowds along Mr Khrushchev’s route and the firemen will be stationed on rooftops, according to British United Press.

Of the 90 persons in the official party with Mr Khrushchev, 18 will be Soviet security men.

No trouble is expected, according to the Paris police, but the extra precautions were ordered because of the wide variety and number of political factions represented among the French people. Hundreds of Russian and East European refugees who live in Paris and in other cities which Mr Khrushchev will visit have already been sent into temporary exile in Corsica and similar places as the “guests” of the French Government When Mr Khrushchev drives through Paris, he will travel at a speed of between 25 and 35 miles an hour, and will be surrounded by a phalanx of motorcycle policemen at all times. Three days before Mr Khrushchev’s tour, which will last a fortnight the British Prime Minister, Mr Macmillan, arrived in Paris at the personal invitation of General de Gaulle for private talks.

Mr Khrushchev’s visit to France will complete the round of East-West personal contacts between the world leaders who will meet at the summit in two months. The visit will also give the Soviet leader an ideal opportunity to preach to the West his own ideas for the settlement of world problems. There has been no announcement so far of the members of the party who will accompany him on the trip, but it is likely to include the Foreign Minister. Mr Gromyko, the chairman of the State Committee for Cultural Relations, Mr Zhukov, some senior trade officials and. as has been the custom in recent visits, some members of Mr Khrushchev’s family. A large Soviet press group will also go with him, probably headed by the editor of “Pravda,” Mr Satyukov. and Mr Khrushchev’s son-in-law. Mr Adzhubei. editor of “Izvestia.” Mr Khrushchev, who returned only a week ago from a gruel-

ling tour of South-east Asia, is by all accounts as vigorous as ever. Visitors who have seen him this week have described him as buoyantly confident.

The theme of Mr Khrushchev’s public speeches in France will be the need for coexistence, disarmament, the settlement of the Berlin and Germany questions by means of a peace treaty, and the benefits of trade and cultural contacts. The British Prime Minister was accompanied by his wife, Lady Dorothy Macmillan. He brought only a private secretary. The absence of advisers and Foreign Office experts from his small party emphasised the informal nature of his talks. The Prime Minister and the President last met in December when, with President Eisenhower, they attended the Western Summit talks in Paris and at Rambouillet.

Mr Michel Debre, the French Prime Minister, may join the discussions tomorrow afternoon.