'HARASSMENT' IN LENINGRAD LEADS TO U.S. WARNING FOR TRAVELERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96M01138R000400090011-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 7, 2011
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: August 7, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/06/07: CIA-RDP96M01138R000400090011-2
A 10 ... R Tuesday, August 7, 1984
`Harassment' in Leningrad Leads
By John M. Goshko
Washington Post Staff Writer
The State Department, citing
"approximately a dozen cases of
flagrant harassment" of Americans
in Leningrad during the past six
months, yesterday issued a "travel
advisory" warning U.S. citizens that
they face danger of arrest and de-
nial of access to U.S. officials if they
visit that Soviet city.
The advisory followed an incident
Thursday in which a Marine guard
assigned to the U.S. consulate there
was beaten by Soviet police.
Department spokesman Alan
Romberg also disclosed yesterday
that an American professor was
arrested by plainclothes police in
Leningrad on July 28 and held for
two hours without being allowed to
contact the consulate.
"Today's advisory on Leningrad
is the first to caution Americans
traveling there that the U.S. gov-
ernment cannot guarantee that the
Soviet Union will adhere to provi-
sions of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. consular
convention, stipulating the right of
access to consular officials in the
event of arrest or detention," a de-
partment statement said.
Department officials said adviso-
ries have been issued in the past
about Soviet travel. But, they not-
ed, the earlier advisories have in-
volved possible problems in obtain-
ing visas or hotel rooms in some
parts of the Soviet Union.
They also said that after a Ko-
rean Air Lines jetliner was shot
down by a Soviet plane last Septem-
ber, an advisory warned that trav-
elers in the Soviet Union might
have trouble obtaining plane tick-
ets.
Leningrad rivals Moscow as the
principal center for foreign tourists
in the Soviet Union, and the advi-
sory reflected what U.S. officials
said was a desire to protect Amer-
icans from possible danger and to
emphasize to the Soviet govern-
ment U.S. concern about "unsatis-
factory Soviet responses" in dealing
with the situation.
to U.S. warning for Travelers
The officials said Leningrad was
singled out because the majority of
serious incidents occurred there.
Some cases, beginning with an at-
tack on a U.S. consular official last
April, have been publicized previ-
ously, but yesterday's advisory in-
dicated a widespread pattern of in-
cidents involving private American
travelers as well as U.S. officials.
The officials said the frequency of
incidents in the Leningrad area
could not be ascribed solely to ten-
sion between the Reagan adminis-
tration and the Soviet government.
They gave as one possible expla-
nation the fact that the police and
KGB officials in Leningrad have a
reputation for being especially
tough in dealing with suspected
breaches of state security.
"There have been several cases
of unlawful detention of tourists by
the Soviet security organs following
innocent contacts with Soviet cit-
izens," the advisory said. "During
detention, Americans have- been
denied their rights, under the U.S.-
U.S.S.R. consular convention, to
communicate with an American
consular officer and to be visited by
him without delay. American tour-
ists have been subjected to arbi-
trary and in many cases unjustifi-
ably embarrassing searches of their
personal effects .... "
In describing the July 28 incident,
Romberg said an American profes-
sor, whom he would not identify,
was arrested on the way to a meet-
ing with a Soviet scholar who spe-
cializes in 18th century literature
and was held at a police station for
two hours. Romberg said the pro-
fessor was told "that a new Soviet
law which took effect on July 1 did
not require that foreigners., $e
granted access to their cotsttr
representatives unless they Vve
being deported." ro,
Other incidents involved an as-
sault on U.S. vice consul Ronald
Harms as he was leaving a restau-
rant after lunching with a dissid t
contact in April, and the se e
beating in June of Andrew Espin
an, American exchange student.
Approved For Release 2011/06/07: CIA-RDP96M0l138R000400090011-2