SOVIET UNION EASTERN EUROPE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00865A001400190001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 12, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 24, 1975
• Content Type: NOTES

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op ecret
AR-
,R)ul~p Knum
Soviet Union
Eastern Europe
Top Secret
170
July 24, 1975
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SOVIET UNION - EASTERN EUROPE
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July 24, 1975
Moscow's Reaction To Arab Moves To
Expel Israel from UN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Will the Dissidents Lose Sakharov? . . . . . . . 2
Czechoslovakia: Dubcek Strikes Back
Against Husak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
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The Persian Gulf: Soviet-Sponsored
Diplomatic Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
USSR To Assemble Electronic Calculators
Under US License. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
New Soviet Minister of the Auto Industry . . . . 10
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Moscow's Reaction To
Arab Moves To Expel Israel from UN
Moscow has reacted gingerly to moves to expel
Israel from the UN and may be working privately to
discourage the Arabs.
Soviet media have barely alluded to the Arab
proposals, and when, belatedly, they reported on
the Islamic conference in Jidda, no mention was
made of its resolution calling for Israeli. expulsion.
Moscow would obviously prefer to avoid having
to cast a vote on the issue of Israeli expulsion. A
positive ballot would confirm Israel's suspicions of
the Soviets and would thus undercut Moscow's efforts
to win a role for itself in the Middle East negotia-
tions. A negative vote or an abstention would damage
Soviet standin
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Will the Dissidents Lose Sakharov?
The regime's decision last week to permit the
wife of leading dissident spokesman Andrey Sakharov
receive treatment in Italy for an eye condition
Icould be part of a campaign
to put pressure on the ailing Sakharov himself to
emigrate.
Sakharov told Western newsmen last week that
his wife was anxious to leave as soon as possible
going blind.
Is he is having
second thoughts about leaving of her husband's
own poor health. Sakharov reportedly suffered a heart
attack in early June. According to his wife, he now
receives weekly electrocardiograms, and the results
are "bad."
Both Sakharovs probably are aware that the re-
gime may not allow Mrs. Sakharov to return to the USSR
after completion of her treatment. Although Sakharov
at the moment is determined to stay in the country
and carry on his activities-, the threat of permanent
separation from his wife could eventually persuade
him--if his health allows--to seek an exit permit.
While the regime may have doubts about letting a man
known in the West as the "father of the Soviet H-bomb"
leave the country, the damage such a loss of its major
spokesman would do to the dissident "movement" in the
USSR could outweigh security and other considerations.
Sakharov's gradual slide into dissident activities
during the 1960s resulted in his being slowly cut off
from his work in the Soviet nuclear program. He was
finally fired and his security clearance lifted shortly
after the June 1968 publication in the West of his re-
nowned essay, "Progress, Coexistence and Intellectual
Since May 1969 he has held a relatively low-
Freedom."
ranking job as part-time senior researcher at the Lebedev
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Institute of Physics in Moscow, where he is reportedly
being limited to theoretical work. Sakharov, who has
remained a member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences
throughout his travails, is an experimental physicist,
and this limitation has effectively ended his profes-
sional career.
July 24, 1975
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Czechoslovakia: Dubcek Strikes
Back Against Husak
Alexander Dubcek has reportedly written another
letter, this one sharply questioning the "socialist
credentials" of party and state chief Gustav Husak.
'he Western press, including The Wa3hington Post, re-
cently published extracts from the letter that Dubcek
allegedly wrote to rebut Husak's attack on him in mid--
April.
The complete text of the letter (which according
to rumors was written as early as May) is still not
available, but the widespread publication of excerpts
could force Husak to readdress the politically sensi-
tive question of how to handle Dubcek. The moderately
conservative Husak would prefer to ignore the issue,
but ultra-conservatives in the leadership may try to
use the letter to renew the earlier inflammatory cam-
paign against Dubcek.
A recent edition of the German-language version
of a Czechoslovak emigre journal published what it
claimed were excerpts from the letter:
--I grew up in a milieu of the revolutionary
movement; at the time you were a bourgeois
lawyer, my family helped build socialism in
the USSR.
--At a time when you were in Katyn as a member
of the official delegation of the Fascist
Slovak state, my family was already working
for the underground.
--At a time when you were sitting in the cafes
of Bratislava with Sano Mach (minister of
interior in the independent Slovak state that
was a puppet of Nazi Germany), my family
risked its life for the socialist revolution.
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--At the time when you allegedly prepared
the Slovak Uprising (1944), my family had
long been fighting with arms in hand, and
my brother had already given his life.
Dubcek's claims for his family are true, but
some of his charges against Husak are not.. Husak--
as he often proudly points out--comes from peasant
stock, and he is a self-made man. Although there
have been some whispers about Husak's relations with
the "fascist" Slovak state during World War II, in
fact, for much of the war, he actively worked with
the resistance. Husak, however, i" vulnerable to
accusations about his relationship with Mach. The
two had already been long-time friends when Mach
intervened to obtain Husak's release from the Gestapo.
After the war, Husak tried to lighten Mach's sentence
for treason. His friendship with Mach was used against
him, when Husak was purged from the party in the early
1950s. Although Husak was exonerated of the charge, he
must be sensitive to its reappearance.
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The Persian Gulf: Soviet-Sponsored
Diplomatic Activity
The Soviet Union, eager to strengthen its posi-
tion on the Arab side of the Persian Gulf, where its
only embassy is in Kuwait, is again attempting to es-
tablish diplomatic relations with the United Arab
Emirates ME).
The Soviet diplomatic initiative suggests that
Moscow may detect a more favorable climate in the gulf
as a result of King Faysal's death in late March. In
1972, Sheikh Zayid--the UAE president--and several other
gulf rulers appeared to be ready to exchange ambassadors
with Moscow, but backed off in deference to Faysal's
strong opposition to an expanded Soviet presence in the
gulf.
Whether the UAE embraces the current Soviet-in-
spired overtures may depend on how Zayid reads the
Saudi position. Those UAE officials who :Look favor-
ably on ties with a communist government---we believe
UAE Foreign Minister Suwaydi is among them--have un-
doubtedly been heartened by some signals of a soften-
ing by Riyadh on the issue.
Saudi Crown Prince Fahd has recently stated that
his country follows an open-door policy toward all
countries and that "we want good relations with both
East and West.... We will conduct our relations with
foreign states in the light of our best efforts and
according to the position adopted by those countries
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towards our causes." It is highly doubtful that the
Saudi government will itself make any abrupt policy
changes, but Fahd may be signaling a long-term shift
in Riyadh's traditionally strong anti-communist policy.
This could certainly encourage Moscow to pursue its
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USSR To Assemble Electronic
Calculators Under US License
The Soviets have awarded a $7-million contract
to a US firm to provide technology, equipment, and
parts for the assembly of hand-held electronic cal-
culators in the USSR. The US firm will help estab-
lish a Soviet factory with the capacity to produce
one million calculators per year.
The contract calls for the shipment of unem-
bargoed technical data, equipment, and parts. Semi-
conductor components of the type used in these cal-
culators can be shipped freely to Communist coun-
tries.
Calculators that are currently produced in
quantity by the Soviets are bulky desk-top models.
Although the Soviets apparently have manufactured
a small number of hand-held types, possibly with
assistance from Japan, they have not mastered the
difficult technology needed to mass produce them
or their electronic components.
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New Soviet Minister of the Auto Industry
Viktor Nikolayevich Polyakov has succeeded Alek-
sandr Tarasov, who died recently, as USSR minister of
the automobile industry, Pravda reported on July 18.
Polyakov has been a deputy minister of the auto
industry for the past ten years. He is perhaps best
known for his role in planning, organizing, and di-
recting the Volga Motor Vehicle Plant in Tolyatti,
which began turning out cars in 1970. In 1974 he be-
came director general of the Volga Production Associa-
tion, a collection of enterprises that includes the
Tolyatti facility. Polyakov and his colleagues have
solicited Western (particularly Italian) help for the
huge installation.
The 60-year-old Polyakov is a trained engineer
who came up through the ranks; he directed the Moscow
Small Auto Plant between 1961 and 1965. Until re-
cently, he was one of two deputy ministers who simul-
taneously headed production facilities. The younger
deputy minister--Lev Vasilyev--has been in charge of
the Kama Motor Vehicle Plant at Naberezhnyye CY?elny
since 1969.
July 24, 1975
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Top Secret
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