K.G.B. clamps down on group

Press, 16 June 1982, Page 8

K.G.B. clamps down on group

NZPA-Reuter Moscow Soviet K.G.B. security police continued a crackdown yesterday on an unofficial Soviet peace group, with two of its members reported to have been detained. Mr Sergei Rosenoer, a mathematician,, said he was released yesterday after being held by police for 36 hours in the flat of fellow group member, Mr Sergei Batovrin. He said he had been warned that his activities for the self-styled.’ “Group for the Establishment of Trust between - the United States and the Soviet Union,” were illegal. He. told reporters he was not sure if Mr Batovrin, who was also in the flat, had subsequently been released. The whereabouts of' another member, dentist, Mr Mikhail Ostrovsky, were also unknown, he added. Most members of the group have been warned to cease their activities since they founded the group 10 days ago.'

Police began the crackdown against the peace group over the week-end. By Saturday night police had called in and warned 10 of the group's 11 members to stop their activities. A man wearing a black leather coat got out of an unmarked car at noon yesterday when two American reporters approached Mr Batovrin’s apartment building. He stopped approaching close to the door. The man, who refused to identify himself, also followed the reporters as they left the area. The peace group announced its founding at a June 4 news conference at Mr Batovrin's apartment. Its members denied they were dissidents or anti-Soviet, but insisted an independent group was necessary to foster Soviet-American trust. All other Soviet peace groups are officially sanctioned and never veer froim the Kremlin line that the United States bears sole responsibility for the arms race and world tension.