‘Tactics’ annoy Russians

Press, 25 August 1983, Page 13

‘Tactics’ annoy Russians

NZPA-Reuter Moscow Soviet citizens on assignment in the United States are “systematically persecuted,” and “watched at every step by an army of F. 8.1. agents,” says the party daily newspaper, “Pravda.”

F. 8.1. agents follow Russians in their cars

“bumper-to-bumper,” and “listen in on every word they say,” the newspaper said. “Agents break into Russians’ apartments” and “shamelessly rifle their belongings and are often the instigators of thefts committed in their homes and on the streets,” the report said. Referring to the case of Andrei Berezhkov, the son of a Soviet diplomat in Washington who allegedly wrote to President Reagan asking asylum, “Pravda” said detachments of the F. 8.1. blockaded the Soviet Embassy as well as the residence of the Soviet diplomat.

Every Russian “entering or leaving was photographed,” “Pravda,” said. F. 8.1. agents “stopped cars and checked the identity of passengers as heli-

copters flew overhead and filmed the complex.”

“Such acts tarnish America’s national prestige and constitute a blatant violation of the standards of diplomatic relations recognised in the civilised world,” “Pravda” said.