Erring radio man sent home

Press, 30 May 1983, Page 8

Erring radio man sent home

NZPA Moscow A Radio Moscow announcer who broadcast reports critical of Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan and the Kremlin’s disarmament proposals has been ordered to leave Moscow, Soviet sources say.

The announcer, Vladimir Danchev, had been forced to return to his hometown, Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan in Soviet Central Asia, which is not far from the Afghanistan border. Mr Danchev, said to be in his middle 30s and described by the Soviet sources as “tall, dark and handsome” but not very talkative to coworkers, on Monday worded three English-language news reports on Afghanistan to brand Soviet troops the “aggressor” there. British Broadcasting Corporation monitors in London said yesterday that a review of tapes of Radio Moscow’s English-language broadcasts had showed Mr Danchev’s suggesting that the Soviet Union was . insincere in disarmament proposals. According to the 8.8. C., which listens in on the Soviet bloc frequencies at its monitoring centre in Caversham, England, Mr Danchev said: “The Soviet Union has said once again that it is not prepared to work to secure constructive decisions on limiting nuclear arms in Europe.” The 8.8. C. also quoted him as saying that, “the Soviet Union wishes to have more missiles and warheads ... than N.A.T.O. has.”

The Soviet Union usually accuses the United States and its allies of seeking nuclear superiority over the Soviets, and asserts that President Ronald Reagan is not interested in disarmament. Mr Danchev made the Afghanistan statements in three hourly news broadcasts on Monday on Radio Moscow’s English-language world services. A spokesman for Radio Moscow said that Mr Danchev, had made a “personal mistake” in the broadcasts.