ALLEGATIONS SOVIETS USING SLAVE LABOR HEAT UP DEBATE OVER PIPELINE TO EUROPE
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CIA-RDP84B00049R001102760001-9
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December 20, 2016
Document Release Date:
June 14, 2006
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Approved For Release 2008/02/14: CIA-RDP84B00049RO01102760001-9
Heat T Debate Over .Pipe i e to Europe 11 ~ .'pear to vv in
By STEVE MUFSON
Stuff Reporter of THE WAi.i. STREk-r JOURNAL
France and West Germany have
launched official probes of charges that the
Soviet Union iL using political. and religious
prisoners to help build the natural gas
pipeline from Siberia to Western Europe.
While trying to persuade the- Reagan
administration to lift the U.S.. embargo- on
equipment for the pipeline, the two nations
last week instructed their Moscow embas tinues, :there are frequent job-related inju-
sies to investigate reports of "slave la- vies, and no mecllcal . treatment- is avail-
bor. . able.
The moves appear to be in response to ? . ''After' World War It German officers
domestic criticism of the project an:.a hum,: ware convicted of war ctitnes on the basis
man-rights basis. of them participation- ? in 'slave labor'
Two weeks ago a L u ii
member of the West .
German opposition ]Insight.
,
party, the7iristian the human-righter group. Now, he Said,
Democrats;--demanded that.'the West Ger- Western countries would share "moral re='
man government investigate. allegations of sponsibility"- for ::Soviet , - labor camps
slave labor being used on the Soviet pipe, through their financial and technical aid to
line. A press conference for European jour- the natural gas pipeline. "If people ~.iu'
nalists held in Washington by Sen.-William Western Europe are going to -warm their
Armstrong (R., Colo.), who aired charges feet. or cook their food with: that natural
about conscripted Soviet labor at a corn- gang they should know that others had to -
mittee hearing last month, was widely re-, die, work? go hungry, or freeze to got the::.
ported overseas. And a West Gerrian.hu- gas from there to here," Dr. Gnauck. said
man rights organization has appealed to in a telephone interview.
both Germany and France to halt the proj-
ect, The group says the prisoners forced to
ect. ' work on the pipeline include dissident psy-
acterlsticaily The European avoided looking governments at have char- chiatrist. Semyon. GIuzman and a Ukrai-:
nski-But. C
h
rights violations in the- Soviet Union," said plan writer, Zinovi
f ti
:
C
i
ff
h
rc
er
er o
i
:
oTtun
s
researc
cial of the State Department's ha- Cosman, sta
an official
an off man-rights division. He said 'the U.S. is sion on Security and Cooperation in Europe
"couraged" by the probes and in also in (the Helsinki Commission), says Dr; Gluz-
enco
"es uraged t, he added, "We'd al sus- man and Mr. Krassinsld are believed to be
prised if enough public oressure built un to held in areas or camps that would make it
The West. German group. charges. that
there are eight labor camps along the pipe-
line route including Ustj-lschim, Urengoy,
Surgnt, Tavda; Tjuiren, Irbit and Lys'va.
The human-rightl group, also alleges.
that the prisoners- suffer from poor work-
ing and living conditions and inadequate
nutrition in an ,area where temperatures
drop to as ' Iow as-50 degrees below zero
Fahrenheit. Furthermore, the group con-
sician, at the- German Diagnosttic. Clinic in-
West Germany, -and. head of,
Wiesbaden
influence- the European -governments to
change their position, structlo n work.
Furthermore, he said, It was unlikely . She says she "can't- believe the Soviets
that the West German and French embas- would be dumb enough to use political pris-
sies in Moscow would be able to find any oners for pipeline work" because of the po-.
evidence to prove o1 ' disprove . ' the litical harm such reports, would do. She ad
charges. ded, however, that she didn't doubt that
The U.S.S.R.-Embassy in'-Paris has de-' nonpolitical prisoners. were working on the
nied the charges, condemning them as pro project,.
paganda aimed at sabotaging.,, East-West, In a broadcast Aug. .5~in Fiiiriish, Mos
cooperation. cow Radio called the charges "false." The
But the issue isn't likely to vanish soon, broadcast said. "Is it ever, conceivable
A. group called the International Society- that the completion of the Siberia-Western
for Human Rights,' based in Frankfurt, Europe-gas pipeline would be made depen-
West Germany, will. issue a 60-page report dent on so-called political prisoners? Not to
this week containing four, letters, written: by_,mention the-fact that- there. isn't a single
prisoners in the-Soviet Union and. tests-: person in the Soviet Union who has lost his,
many by four former prisoners. currently freedom for political, . reasons." , e ;
living in the West..The report will charge Moscow' Radio added that '"the' real
that as many as 100,000 prisoners in camps builders of the. deal of the century are freer
in the Soviet Union, including thousands of people-construction `workers engineers
religious and political prisoners, are doing and :scientists:"
heavy work such as'cutting down forests
and leveling iand:.in reparation fat the Western experts on the Soviet Union.
pipeline. have long assumed that the. Soviet Union
According to Human Rights Internet, a- would turn to conscription - of labor for'
monitoring group in Wasliingtonr the Inter work in the harsh Arctic regions of the
national Society 'for Human Rights was country fwi the pipeline: Such relatively in-
founded in 1972 by a group of Soviet ems-'.expensive labor' is considered a major rea-
criticism of -the Soviet Union.'
Not all human-rights organizations con-
cur that the Soviets are-using prisoners 4m
the pipeline project. Amnesty International
in London, for example, which monitors
son why the pipeline will be economically
viable:. Usually the bulk of pipeline con-
struction costs, especially in remote. areas
,such as Siberia or Alaska, stem from labor
costsa, "..x
day for his vacation
Mountains in northl
tini's holiday had 1
Italian government;
Mr. Spadolini at
mediating between
and the Socialists.
member of Italy's
,which has only 3%
was originally chos
in the midst of a C
ist stalemate.
If Mr. Spada
new government
42nd government
Special Le T '
SYDNEY,-,'AUftr
budget for the c
provide tax cuts.bu
and thus wider rite
Most-,politica.l
forecasting that. th
year that began .1
equivalent of $137
year easier. '
The wider - de
.from the gave
get represents en
economic recovery.
Meanwhile, . s
that- the budget
day-will be foll
a call for an early
tional Country Far
is expected before
C?PE"YH.AGENk
Social ' Democrat
pests to Post IL rec
year, Fiaanci
the Danish ptdLlm
-.The minister
gap at t ieYeq
outlays at S ,
$13.5 billion.,
Mr. H:elneset
was the posaM
The gnyerrmcI''
lid on w, =TO
years; 1d-r.'VtbWM
Norway' s' ~t
r t
OSLO.
tie
'tw
Ina sign of confidence that the current 1
' Many-experts have said, however, that _
the Soviet Union would turn to. its .huge.
-ays it hasn't received any reports of polit- standing army to help build the pipeline.
,al prisoners being forced to work on the The army has often aided In construction ~r1~
of civilian projects.
Approved For Release 2008/02/14: CIA-RDP84B00049RO01102760001-9
.-backing in Italy .
By Davin FLS.tizlivo
S cla'tn THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
ROME-Italian Premier-Designate Gio-
vanni Spadolini appears to have the political
backing needed to rebuild his five-party gov-
ernment : coalition, 'which collapsed- on
.; ; .
Aug. T.
The unexpected turnabout In the Italian
political outlook results from Mr. Spadolini's
presentation of ,a 10-point plan.. for institu-
tional changes in Italy's parliamentary
system. The plan, currently under. examiina-
-tion by constitutional experts of the. various
political parties, has received preliminary
approval from the.members of Mr. Spado-
lini's ' old coalition.
Mr,:Spadolini's hopes of succeeding hire-
self'-as premier had appeared doomed Iasi.
Tuesday when Italy's Socialist Party said it
wouldn't rejoin his five-party coalition. The
Socialists are the key party in any Italian.
government -formula; though. they control
only 9.8% of the, vote, they hold a balance-of-
power. position between the Christian Demo-
crats and the Communists, Italy's two larg-
est ?political . parties. , ,
Rule Changes Proposed
Mr. Sparlolini's new'.proposals'appear to
have Socialist approval. The proposals in-.
elude rule changes to reduce the use, of se-,'l spending. But'Canby
cret ballots in Parliament, a limit an the
number of amendments that can be added to
the annualiederal budget bill, a probable in
crease in the number of signatures requi
to call a national referendum, currently 500,-
000, and time, limits for the passage of new
laws to speed up the legislative process.
A key print in Mr. Spadolini's new plan is
the proposed change in parliamentary pro-
cedures that permit secret balloting. The is-
sue of the secret vote helped bring about the
collapse of the Spadolini government earlier
this month. A Socialist bill calling- for early
payment by' cil companies'of ii t?x on re-
fined oil products was defeated In Tarifa
ment on Aug: 4-in a- secret vote. The' Social-
ists subsequently resigned from the govern-
ment coalition, accusing their coalition part
cretly voted down the bill-in deference to oil
company interests. .
Currently, Italian parliamentary voting
can be forced out in the open. only by mak-
ing the issue. a question of co~dence in the,
governmem
Socialists' Willingness-
The Ital',an Socialists' apparent new?will-
iiigness to go along' with' Mr. Spadolini. sur-
prises . ~ mast political: observers, who be-
lieved'the party was determined to force the
dissolution of the,-Italian Parliament and
bring about early national elections-pre
sumably in hopes of substantial Socialist
gains, The next scheduled national. elections
Consultations are continuing among the
expected, soon on whether Mr.. Spadol~'s
plan for a new government is definiteiY ac'.
ceptable to the members of his old- doa-
'