Russians May Try To Open Canal

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31828, 5 November 1968, Page 17

Russians May Try To Open Canal

(N.Z. Press Assn—Copyright)

NAPLES, Nov. 4.

The Soviet Navy has moved dredges into Egyptian ports for possible use in forcing open the Suez Canal, qualified United States naval sources said yesterday, United Press International reported.

Communist diplomats in London hinted strongly last week that the Russians were

considering forcing the reopening of the canal, blocked since the ArabIsraeli war in June, last year. This followed ' persistent, but until now unconfirmed, reports that Russian dredges had been sent into the Mediterranean. The American sources said the dredges had been spotted by United States 6th Fleet aerial reconnaissance.

“The Russians probably have not decided whether to use them because they do not know ■ what our response would be,” one United States source said. “And after Tuesday (American election day) we will have a new ball game.”

This last comment reflected an awareness in military circles in Naples that any decision about possible American intervention, if the Russians did try to open the canal, would be made at the political level in Washington rather than by the military.

The Russians need the Suez Canal for shipping supplies from their Black Sea ports to North Vietnam.

Israeli troops now occupy the east bank of the canal, and Israel has repeatedly said it would permit Egypt to reopen it only if Israeli ships were allowed passage as part of an over-all peace settlement. Before the war, canal tolls

provided Egypt’s second largest source of badlyneeded hard currency income, after cotton sales abroad. The lost income now is being made up by several oilrich Arab States. Besides the canal’s importance to the Russians as a Vietnam shipping route, it also is vital to their maintaining a naval presence in the Indian Ocean, south of the canal. The Russians are On their way to establishing a large, world-wide naval presence and are believed to want to build up their naval units in the Indian Ocean.