Russia Denies Alaskan Trespass

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30093, 29 March 1963, Page 11

Russia Denies Alaskan Trespass

(N2. Pre** Assn.— Copyright) WASHINGTON, March 27. The Soviet Union firmly rejected today United States claims that two Russian reconnaissance planes penetrated 30 miles into American air space on March 15, the Associated Press reported. Authoritative sources today said the Soviet Union said that its planes had never come closer to Alaska than 350 kilometers (217 miles), AP reported. The United States Note of protest was delivered to the Soviet Union on March 16 by the Ambassador to Moscow, Mr Foy Kohler. The Note said that the two Russian aircraft violated United States air space over Alaska on March 15, and the United States “expects that the Soviet Government will take all necessary measures

to prevent any repetition.” The Soviet reply today, the sources said, emphatically rejected the protest United Press International reported that the Alaska Air Command has issued a report on the Russian overflight which makes the incident seem less serious than originally reported in Washington. According to the command’s version of the incident the two Soviet planes probably were lost in bad weather rather than engaged in any deliberate attempt to penetrate United States territory, U.P.I. said. One draft of a United States protest filed with Moscow charged that the depth of the penetration 30 miles and the duration of the flights indicated that “this was a deliberate act.” However, the reference to a deliberate penetration was eliminated in the version submitted to the Soviet Government, UJ»X reported. The new account, given at naval reserve training sessions. says that only one of the Soviet planes flew over an Alaskan land area. The other may have been over

Alaskan territorial waters. The plane was over Alaskan territory only 12 minutes, instead of 25 minutes as given in the official report. The account also says the plane turned back toward Soviet territory about as soon as it could have learned it was off course, according to U.P.L In addition, the account says there was no interception of the Russian plane. The official report said the plane was intercepted by radar on F 1025 Delta dart fighter planes, but no shots were fired because it already was heading back toward Soviet territory. United States Defence Department sources declined to verify these details. But they confirmed that the Alaskan Command had been concerned lest Washington reports make the incident appear more serious than it was, U.P.I said. State Department officials said they had heard there was an increasing belief in military circles that only a navigational error was involved. Bott State and Defence Department officials said the March 15 incident was the

only verified occasion in wich Soviet planes flew over United States territory. A corrected account of the March 15 incident was said to have been necessary to instruct pilots in what to expect in case of a deliberate Soviet penetration. The Soviet planes were reported to have been flying at altitudes of 17,000 and 35,000 feet and at speeds of 400 to 450 miles an hour. Bad the penetration been deliberate, experts quoted by United Press International said, they probably would have been flying much higher and faster. However, A.P said, highranking United States authorities, commenting on the Soviet reply today, said the United States insisted that the Soviet planes violated American air space, as alleged in the United States Note of March 18. Asked whether the Alaska Air Command now considered the Russian flights an accident, the Defence Department said: "The flight has not been officially characterised 1® this sense," A_P. reported.