SOVIET 'PEACE' PANEL JEERED IN MINNESOTA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100670046-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 46
• Publication Date: May 26, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/12 :CIA-RDP90-008068000100670046-7
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VPASHINGTOI~T TIMES
26 MAY 1983
Soviet `peace' panel jeered
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- democracy has its limits. Hitler, .after
WASHINGTON TM.IES STAFF ` ~ ~ ~Ja~owledge ihat'this same thing has hap- .all ~ay,~ in.power. How did he do this?
' -'"opened to many of? us as well. Unfortu- '
MIIv'A'EAPOLIS -Soviet .delegates ~ ~ lately, this is part of what can happen in He stayed in power through elections.
to a privately sponsored "Minneapolis ' '-~~ublic forum:' We know that several hundred Nazis
Peace and Disarmament Conference" _ - are here in the United States, and they
-~_ ~rwin"'~Salk, ?.a businessman..and . are sot punished:' Kobysh said 'that
were introduced to the real 'world ? of . .American delegate to the conference, since he is Ulaainian, perhaps-some of I
.American hard ball politics ~yesterday.~ ~ ~ which is sponsored by the Institute for _. ~ ? the Nazis in America were among those
~'~vhen they were jcered, hecltled'~nd ' ~. -;'Policy Studies, : a liberal Washington '. who killed his fellow Ukrainians-tiurin
j. mercilessly interro sled at` ~ public ~ i g
6 ~ -think tank,-and the Soviet Institute of . ? - World WarII,andperhapssotneofthese
_.forum at the University of Minntsotaat ? the tT.S.A. and Canada, was equally mor- ~ `Nazis "~-ere among the -detnonsirators
St Paul. r : tifitd: ~ may., -- ..: ~ ~....:~ :~
Worst of all, from the Soviet point of ' .. "I thought about sending notes to the ~ - --. - - -~ ._ _.~___ __... ~ _,.: _-. ,j, ;;; _. -
'~iew,nearly allthequestionswereabout I Soviets;' Sallc said, "telling them._of
Soviet mistreatment of Jews snd other i ~. ;'AndrewYoung'sdescription ofthe thou=-
religious minorities, dissidents and sandsof political prisoners inAmerican -
Soviet citizens who tried to leaveRussia ~ prisons, of the blacks, Hispanics, .and
- just the sort of human rights ques- ~ native Americans who are on our death
lions the Soviets insist they won't talk rows..I thoughtabout telling them of the -
about. _ i sterilized PuertoRican women:'
The Soviets were furious atrthe day's i - Americans were wrong to try to "lay ,
events. Their American colleagues ~ down the ground rules" in discussions '
were, ~zth one stated exception, anor? ~ -of human rights, Salk said, because the
. tified. Soviets "could talk about Guatemala
"Tam sure someof the people we saw
there today were Nazis;' said Vitaly I. ' Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and even
Kobysh, an officer in the Department of ~' "~rn'u`hce ~ -bring up Poland _ and -
Information oY the Soviet Communist ?" Afg~~? We are here trying to talk
about making s contract to stay alive.
Par'tY - Then; after that, we can et -
Mikhail Milshtein, a senior fellow of ing things beck and forth to eac otherlj-
aSoviet research institute, blamed Har- Only Don Fraser y
rison Salisbury, the journalist who : , the ma or of Minne-
moderated the session. apolis, defended those who asked what
one American delegate called "imperti-
_ "I was surprised by the way he man- nent questions" at the morning forum -
aged the forum and gave the floor to held at the..Hubert H. Humphrey Insti-
- certain elements;' Milshtein said. "Cer' lute of Public Affairs on the university
fain rules of behavior were not followed. ! -campus.
. "Can you imagine if some of you came I ??I can attest to the fact that those who
to the Soviet Union? Would the audience 1 _
say that every one of you were members ', showed up there do have honest_ convic- ;
of the CIA?" This was his first exper- ' lions;' he said. "In political life we must
ience in such a forum where anyone was ~ recognize not only numbers,. but, the
allowed to speak. -"We can assure you' intensity of feeling" He was sorry that
-.chat nothing like this ever happens in the ~ the Soviet guests had been made to feel
U.S.S.R:' ~ ?`bad; the mayor said, but he was pleased
Another Soviet delegate brushed ~ -they got "a glimpse into one aspect of
aside a private apology by one-of the ~ ,community sentiment."
American delegates. "It was nothing. i Eraser's defense of the interrogators, .
They were Jews, after all." Other .some of whom identified themselves as
American delegates grumbled that ' Jewish, was greeted with silence?
"better control" was not exercised over ! Kobysh, the Sot~et delegate, told the ;
who got to ask questions. i ?American delegates the incident was, in '
"Since they don't have a free press;' ~ fact, useful in just the way the mayor
said one American, "theyhonestly + ,described it. "We have suddenly found
' didn't know what some of the demon- ourselves with concrete reality;' he said. ;
'strators were talking about:' ~ He was pleased that the St. Paul forum
"I am deeply ashamed;' said the Rev was filmed, he said, because it would be
Paul 1.4oore, Episcopal Bishop of Wash- shown to Soviet audiences as "the res-
ington, to the ringing applause of the ' ~ son why America is not yet ready to say
Americans at a discussion later. "I am it will not make a nuclear first strike.
deepl~? humiliated."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/12 :CIA-RDP90-008068000100670046-7