Less Fear Over Rumania

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31774, 3 September 1968, Page 15

Less Fear Over Rumania

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

WASHINGTON, September 2.

Concern in Administration quarters over Rumania appeared somewhat eased today after a reported Kremlin denial of rumours that it planned to invade another East European ally, writes Lewis Gulick, of the Associated Press.

Informants said the Soviet Ambassador (Mr Anatoly F. Dobrynin) brought the Soviet disclaimer to the Secretary of State (Mr Dean Rusk) at the week-end, in effect responding to President Johnson’s public warning in a San Antonio speech on Friday. The informants emphasised that the Moscow envoy had not given a flat commitment or assurance that Russian troops would not move into Rumania as they did against Czechosolvakia on August 20. But they welcomed the response as cooling off some of the Washington fears. Meanwhile, Pentagon officials said they did not expect to abandon plans to bring home 33,000 G.l.’s from West Europe, leaving the United States force in Germany about 200,000. United States intelligence estimated Soviet strength in Czechoslovakia at 225,000 to 250,000. Whether the Czechoslovak occupation raises the Communist threat to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies because of the influx of Russian soldiers, or lowers it because of Moscow’s difficulties inside the Communist camp, is a matter of debate. Intelligence reports of Soviet troop movements near Rumania had produced no clear sign of an impending invasion, analysts said, because the Russians could be merely repositioning forces in connection with their Czechoslovak action. Yet none would rule out the possibility that the Kremlin, having taken on the political onus of squelching one inde-pendent-minded ally, might decide to move against another whilte it was at it.

American officials have been contending Rumania, is an unlikely victim because her independence of Moscow has been mainly on some foreign policy issues, rather than on domestic liberalisation which the Czechoslovaks attempted. And unlike Czechoslovakia, which stretches from the Russian border to West Germany, Rumania is entirely surrounded by Communist States.

Commonsense logic, however, could fly out the window once a nation embarked on military adventures, United States authorities said They gave this as a reason for Mr Johnson's public ad monition to Soviet leaders.