Uniform look, about Moscow streets

Press, 22 July 1980, Page 23

Uniform look, about Moscow streets

NZPA Moscow There are so many uniformed men in Moscow that you might say the city resembled an armed camp, except that hardly any of them are armed. Patrolling in and around the airports are members of the K.G.B. border guard. In profusion on the city streets are at least 50,000 (the official figure) grey-uni-formed police, or militia. Then there are the soldiers, part of the officially announced 3.5 million members of the Soviet Armed Forces, and the forces of the Interior Ministry. For 250 metres from the entrance to the metro

(underground railway) station near the Lenin Stadium on Sunday, young soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder on each side of the roadway. More troops were ported at 20-metre intervals on the side of a nearby railway embankment. : ■ Uniformed men are everywhere — in and around the stadiums, stations, security checkpoints in the hotels, and anywhere else visitors may go. Few speak English, and can offer little help to inquirers. At the opening of the Olympic boxing tournament, the front-row ringside was occupied by more than 100 khaki-uniformed soldiers, all sitting almost motionless

and all with their caps on their laps, peaks forward. Whileother spectators cheered, clapped, and whistled during the fights, the soldiers remained still, their faces showing ho emotion. . Yet for all the uniforms, the only guns in sight are the rifles carried by guards around the perimeter of the .Olympic village in the south-west of Moscow. Over the last few days there have been signs of a melting of their previously icy outlook towards Games visitors. “Hello, goodbye,” said one young member of the Red Army with a smile, as two newsmen left the Olympic village today.