Soviet aid to Tonga?

Press, 12 March 1982, Page 4

Soviet aid to Tonga?

Wellington reporter

It is not known if the Soviet Union plans to send aid to Tonga. Some observers who wonder if the cyclone that hit the Tongan group early this month provides a good test of the Soviet Union’s true intentions in the Pacific are interested to see if it responds with aid. The first secretary at the Soviet Embassy, Mr V. N. Krasmov, said yesterday that he did not know if aid would com -m the Kremlin. The Soviet 'resident, Mr Leonid Brezhnev, had sent a cablegram on Wednesday to the King of Tonga, King Taufa’ Ahau Tupou, “expressing sympathy towards the Tongan people in their situation” he said. But he had received

no information about material help.

The Soviet Union had sent cyclone aid to Fiji in the past, he believed, but in the last 10 or 11 years there had been few devastations of a level that asked for an aid response from the Soviet Union. In 1976, the New Zealand

Government became concerned about Soviet plans to build an international airport and other facilities at Tonga, fearing a Russian military build-up in the Pacific.

The Soviet Union denied speculation about a Russian base in the Pacific, but confirmed that talks had taken place on civil aviation and fishing.