Britain expels Soviet envoy

Press, 6 August 1981, Page 8

Britain expels Soviet envoy

NZPA-Reuter London Britain has asked the Soviet Union to remove one of its diplomats from London within seven days. The diplomat, Victor Lazin, a Second Secretary ;at the Soviet Efnbassy has been declared persona non grata because of “activities incompatible with his status as a diplomat,” the Foreign Office said. The BBC reported that this meant spying or some similar activity.

A Foreign Office spokesman said it was the first case of its sort since Britain requested the removal of 105 Soviet diplomats and officials from London in 1971 because of their alleged intelligence-gathering activities.

The spokesman refused to give any details about the case of Mr Lazin.

His departure would leave the Soviet Embassy in London with 46 diplomats, according to the Foreign Office. - ■ ■

Its spokesman said Britain hoped the Soviet Union would not react in a way which might prejudice relations between the two countries.

■ Informed sources said that the British Embassy in Moscow had 46 diplomats but contained fewer non-diplo-matic staff than the Soviet Embassy in London. In Peking, the Guang ming daily has reported that a Chinese peasant who became a Soviet spy after getting in trouble with the local police has been executed in the north-eastern town of Yichun.

The paper said that the “spy," Wen Zhiquan, aged 25, was “extremely reactionary” and added that he had divulged political, military, and economic secrets to the Soviet authorities.

Executions in China are usually carried out by means of a pistol shot to the back of the head.