ACTIVITY NEAR U.S.

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32394, 5 September 1970, Page 8

ACTIVITY NEAR U.S.

Russian Convoy (N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) WASHINGTON, Sept. 2. A five-ship Soviet Navy task-force, including a missilecruiser and a missile-destroy-er, is moving towards the Caribbean, the United States Secretary of Defence, Mr Melvin Laird, said yesterday. In addition to the cruiser and destroyer, the force includes a landing ship—the first of its kind the Russians have operated in the Caribbean—a submarine tenter, and a tanker, he said. State Department officials said that a close watch is being kept on Soviet naval activity in the Caribbean, but they did not attach any particular significance to it beyond that the Soviet Union appeared to be continuing to demonstrate its ability to send ships to various parts of the world.

At recent hearings before the House of Representatives foreign affairs sub-com-mittee on inter-American affairs, alarm over the Soviet naval penetration in the Caribbean was expressed by United States military officials.

The Assistant-secretary of Defence, Mr G. Warren Nutter, told the House sub-com-mittee that Societ military activity in the last year posed a challenge to United States security in the Caribbean, but that it was not a direct threat to the United States mainland a present. The commander of the United States Naval Forces in the Caribbean, Admiral Norvell G. Ward, predicted last week that the Russians would shortly establish a naval base in Cuba. Officials said they saw no evidence yet to support this, but that it was possible.