Soviets give first clear approval to Polish crack-down

Press, 16 February 1982, Page 8

Soviets give first clear approval to Polish crack-down

NZPA Moscow The Soviet Prime Minister (Mr Nikolai Tikhonbv) asserted yesterday that the imposition of martial law had worked in Poland and that the country had been ‘saved" from “anarchy, disintegration. and civil war.”

. Mr: Tikhonov's remarks, made in an interview with the Japanese newspaper, “Asahi." and published in Moscow at the . week-end. were the first unambiguous statements by a top member of the Soviet leadership endorsing the Polish military crackdown. ■

The statement thus is thought to be setting the stage for a visit to Moscow soon by General Wojciech Jaruzelski, the Polish Communist Party chief and head of the Polish military junta.

“It can be said with full justification that martial law has save Polish society from anarchy, disintegration and civilwar," Mr Tikhonov said in his interview with ’ the Japanese newspaper.

The flat endorsement of martial law by Mr Tikhonov, who as head of the Soviet Government is second only to Leonid Brezhnev, the Communist Party boss, in the Kremlin power structure, goes further than any of the relatively cautious statements made so far by top Soviet spokesmen.

Last month, the Polish Foreign Minister (Mr Josef Czyrek) visited Moscow for talks with his Soviet counterpart (Mr Andrei. Gromyko), but the most that came out of that was a joint communique in which all the optimistic phrases were put in the mouths of the Poles. The caution has been

partly due to the Kremlins desire to maintain the appearance that it had nothing to ,do with the military crack-down —. a theme repeated by Mr Tikhonov — and partly because it has been unclear whether martial law would fail, necessitating a Soviet invasion.

. In the interview with “Asahi," Mr .Tikhonov said that Moscow had a vital and direct interest in the situa : tion in Poland but that, "unlike the United States," it was not interfering in Poland's internal affairs. He accused the United States of showing hypocrisy that was "startling” in speaking out as a “defender" of Polish workers while imposing economic sanctions that Mr Tikhonov argued would prevent “normalisation" in Poland.

By “normalisation." the Soviets normally mean a restoration of Kremlin-style Communist orthdoxy. Meanwhile, Mr Tikhonov told “Asahi" that relations with the United States were now bad and were not getting better. “Deplorably, there are so far no signs that affairs are shaping up in a favourable direction,’.' he said. “What's more, actions taken recently by the United States Administration place additional obstacles in this road."

This was an apparent reference to the sanctions imposed on the Soviet Union because of the Polish crackdown — sanctions which Mr Tikhonov said seek to impart an “international character” to an internal affair of Poland.

Almost 200 people were

arrested in Poznan during week-end demonstrations marking two months of martial law in Poland, the official news agency. Pap, has reported. It said 162 people in the western Polish city were "punished by misdemeanour courts" after the protests, on Saturday..

The agency described the demonstrations as being “.mostly high school and university students or persons who are neither employed nor studying elsewhere.” ’ The police moved in to disperse the crowds who shouted hostile slogans, it said.

The regional defence committee has now decided to tighten martial law restrictions in Poznan. Cinemas and theatres have been closed and private cars banned.

As Poland entered its third month of martial law. Warsaw was calm although candles did burn in some .windows in apparent gestures of disapproval. Travellers reaching Warsaw reported heavy police patrols and ’ security measures in the Baltic port of Gdansk, birthplace of the now suspended trade union. Solidarity, but said there was no sign 'of trouble:

In the western town of Lubin a worker at a petrol station defused a home-made time-bomb which would have caused a massacre if it had exploded. Pap said.

It said the device, hidden in a shopping bag full of potatoes, was in working order/ The petrol station, which had 28.000 litres of petrol in its tanks, is near a hospital, nursery and schoo'