STAFF NOTES: SOVIET UNION EASTERN EUROPE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86T00608R000400070044-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 44
• Content Type: REPORT

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Secret
~`~Gl~~ a04~~
Soviet Union
Eastern Europe
Secr?t
1~8
March 5 , ].9 75
No. 0076/75
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SOVIET UNION -EASTERN CUROPE
March 5 , 19 75
Another Art Show Succeeds
in Moscow ~ 3
Yugoslavia and Albania Consider
railway Link 4
Soviet Military Celebrates Anniversary
of Army Gnd ~vavy
Albanian Editorial Blasts the
So Diet Army 8
Commercial Visitor Highlights
During February 10
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Another Art Show Succeeds in Moscow
tot~l attendance was in the "tens of
The small group of Moscow's unconventional
artists that held an officiall s onsored exhibit
rk. late last month 25X1
reportedly view the event as a ma or
success an have applied to t:~e Culture Mir:istry
for permission to stage an expanded show later this
month. Miniatr-;~ officials reportedly have +~old
them the matter is "being Studied."
o s," although some persons may
have left without entering ecause of the four-to-
five?-houz~ wait in line. No major incidents oc-
curred, and order was maintained by the militia
in a generally courteaus manner. Most of the
spectators had heard of the show via foreign radio
or by word of mouth; the show was not advertised,
nor has it been mentioned by Soviet mediae
Some of. the exhibitors` colleagues have crit-
icized them for submitting their work for prior
official review and for agreeing to the restrictions
on what was shown. They see this as playing into
the hands of the .regime, which they consider hungry
for control of the unofficial art movement. This
split in the artists' ranks may be partially healed
if the next show is authorized, since the artists
are hoping to make it much more comprehensive. The
authorities, however, may well view an exhibit this
month as too much too soon, and may turn down or at
least delay action on the request.
March 5, 1975
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Yu oslavia and 1llbania
onu? er Ra way L n c
Di;~cussions botween Delgrade and Tirrlna on
linkage of the Belgrade-Bar railway with Albania's
railway system are reportedly in progress. The
line would provide 7,'irana with its f3.rst rail link
to Europe.
The Belgrade-Bar railway embolus a long-time
Serb and Montenegrin dream of linking the hinter-
lands with both the capital and the Adriatic coast,
It has been under construction for over a decade
and is scheduled for ccmpletion in 1976. The proj-
ect is %:~omplicated and expensive, because it c~~osses
scme of Yugoslavia's most difficult terrain. Over
a hu;:dred tunnels anc~ br-ic:ges arp required, ~1nd
lands licies-- common ii, the area--have caused fre-
quent delays and cost overruns.
Extending the link to the Albanian border would
be comparatively easy. where are, however, politi-
cal obstacles--not the least of which is to convince
the xenophobic Albanians that the economic benefits
of regular rail contact with the outside world would
offset any increased exposure to corrupting influ-
ences from abroad.
Ghina--always an:sious to counter Soviet influ-
ence in the Balk ans--is reportedly ready to give
financial support to the project. Besides offering
to help construct the Albanian leg of the railway,
Peking has reportedly offered a $75-million credit
to Belgrade to finance the Yugoslav connection .
The Chinese presumably believe this :could increase
their influence on the Adriatic .littoral--an area
where they believe the Soviets would like to ac-
quiro naval bases. China may also be interested in
the railway's potential as a means of improving the
r trans ortation in the area.
March 5 , 19 75
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Soviet M1litar Colebr.ates Annivorsar
o ? Army an Navy
At the 57th anniversary of the founding of the
Soviet army and navy on P'obruary 23, the military
emphatiized themes sounded earlier at the All-Army
Conference of Ideological Workers in January and
current~y being projected in connection with the
cc;m:~nq celebration in honor of the 30th anniversary
of the end of World War TT in Europe. The cere-
monies also provided an opportunity for senior of-
ficers to plump for better public relations and to
air some misgivings about detente, although the US
was treated relatively gently.
Most of the ranking Soviet military 1-.ierarchy
took an active role in sc+me part of the anniversary.
Defense Minister Grechko issued a proclamation to
mark the anniversary, and chief of the political
directorate, Yepishev, published two articles and
gave a speech. Several other senior officers,
including ground forces chief Pavlovsky, air force
commander Kutakhov, and Wa;-saw Pack commander Yaku-
bov3ky, wrote articles f'or the central press.
Kulikov, chief of the general Staff, was particu-
larly active, delivering a television address,
writing an article for KomsomoZskaya Pravda, and
speaking to a gathering of KGB officers.
The speeches and articles all struck similar
themes, sometimes in almost identical wording:
(a) the decisive part played by the Soviet armed
forces in the defeat of Germany and Japan, (b) the
pre-eminent. role of the party in the military, (c)
the need--ciespite detente--for continued military
vigilance rind improved combat preparedness, (d) the
threat to the Soviets of bloated military budgets
in the West, (e) the requirement to upgrade ideo-
logical work in the armed forces--currently the
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subject of an intensive campaign--and (f) solidar-
ity w:~th other Warsaw Pact forces. These themes
seemed to betray an uneasiness about this possible
imNact of detente on Soviet security and on mili-
tary interests, but the authors took sorne solace in
the positivo effocts expected of the campaign to
strengthen the role of the party by upgrading ideo-
logical discipline and political work. This cam-
paign, which had its genesis in the mid-1974 CPSU
resolution on party work in Belorussia, is party-
wide, but has received special emphasis in the
armed forces, particularly at the January 1975 con-
ference.
The planners for the anniversary events used
the occasion to broaden public support for the mil-
itary. Senior officers took to the hustings to
speak to gatherings of workers-in various districts
of Moscow. For example, Kurkotkin, chief of rear
services, spoke to a group in Frunzensky district,
and Smirnov, first deputy commander in chief of the
navy, addressed a group in Voroshilovsky district.
In apparent attempts to ~.iemonstrate cohesiveness
between the military and the security organs, I. I.
Yakovlev, chief of the MVD internal troops, spoke
to one of the workers' gatherings in Moscow, and
Kulikov took timE from his numerous other activities
during the anniversary events to tell a gathering
of KGB officers the community of interests a,nd duty
between the armed forces and the KGB.
The anniversary also provided an opportunity
to place Brezhnev's name before the public. In
addition to being quoted by most of the writers
and speakers and, along with his Politburo col-
leagues, being elected by some of the anniversary
gatherings to honorary presidia, Brezhnev was
featured in another exchange of letters--the third
in the last few months--with an outstanding mili-
tary unit.
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Altho+agh moat of the writors and speakers held
forth vehemently against the increase in military
budgets in the West, the US was not singled out for
special censure, nor, in fact, did the publicity
zero in on the US in any context. NATO as a whole
was criticized for excessive military spending, and
Yepishev noted that the US has its biggest military
budget this year since the end of World War II, but
he added that France, Germany, and "a number of other
countries" hive all-time record military budgets this
year. The anniversary did see, however, the publi-
cation, by the Defense Ministry Publishing House, of
a new book on the US military-industrial complex.
Yepishev, perhaps reflecting his role as chief
political officer of the armed forces, emphasised
the gratitude of the liberated Peoples of Eastern
Europe to the Soviet armed forces, and noted that
parts of China and North Korea too benefited from
liberation by advancing Soviet armies. He stressed
the need for continued unity with Warsaw Pact forces,
noting the "consolidation of the army of the social-
ist states (is) an objective necessity stemming from
the natural laws of contemporary social development
and the features of the class struggle between cap-
italism and socialism." As an added fillip to this
theme, a new book, Combat Alliance of Fraternal
Armies, which extols the common struggle of Eastern
European countries against far~cism and praises the
current relationship among pact forces, is being
published.
March 5, 1975
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Albanian Editorial Dlasts the Soviet Army
The Albanians seem to have reached a new high
in colorful invective against the Kremlin. Tirana
has now accused the :Leaders in Moscow of transform-
ing the Soviet army into "an aggressive, putschist,
and fascist" force.
The editorial appeared in the party dai:Ly on
February 22 (Soviet Army Day) and was entitled "The
Soviet Army, An Army of Ocoupation and Oppression
of Peoples." The following quotations are typical
of the tone.
--The Soviet army is in the hands of the
new Soviet bourgeoisie, serving the con-
solidation of its domination and its
imperialist aims.
--The revisionists have transformed the
army from the army of the revolution,
created by Lenin and Stalin 57 years
ago, into an army of the counter-
revolution and of the bourgeois dic-
tatorshi.p;...it has now become an
aggressive army of occupation and
oppression of peoples.
--The barbaric aggression of the Soviet
army against Czechoslovakia was the
first demonstration of the implementa-
tion into practice of an aggressive,
chauvinistic and fascist policy, the
signal of the beginning of a large-
r^.~le offensive against the freedom
and inder..,tnaence of the peoples.
--In order to completely enslave the
revisionist countries of Eastern
Europe politically and militarily,
the neo-Czarist rulers of the Kremlin
and their generals have requested that
military maneuvers be increased.
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March 5, ].975
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the men in the Kremlin.
react by making some even shriller charaes aaainst
--The Soviet army has silently rein-
forced its military occupation of
Poland, Hungary, the GDR, Eulgaria,
and Mongolia...(where it) enjoys a
particular status which only an
aggressive arYd invading army can hive.
Tirana needs no specific provocaEion for such
blasts; they seem to come naturally to the
Hoxha regime. The Albanians do, however, react
quickly to any hint of~increased Soviet interest in
the Balkans, and particularly in Yugoslavia--to which
Hoxha recently promised help in repelling any Soviet
attack. Now that Belgrade has come up with the
second Cominformist case in six months, Tirana could
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Conunorcial Visitor highlights During Fak~ruary
nbout 132 Soviet commercial visitors camp to
the US during February--approximately tha ,soma as
far Fabruary 1974. '1'ha arrival of the USSR's top
nine bureaucrats in Ilia food indus~ry highlighted
the Soviet-US commercial contacts. Undex: the nr~mi-
nal leadership of the USSR minister of the food
industry, Voldemar Loin, ford ministers from tha
Ukrain?, Belorussia, ias~tonia, Armenia, Itazalchst~an,
Uzbekistan, and the RSFSR toured An-crican clistil-
leries, wineries, and food-processing companies.
The delegation's key official was Fedoz Mochalin.
chief of the CPSU CE,ntral Committee's light and
food industry dapart~~tant, who identified himself
as a consultant to the ministry of the food indus-
try. In policy making on Food matters, Mochalin
defers only to the party >''olitbt~~ro and Secretariat.
The host for the delegation ,gas Pepsico, Inc.
--The American construction equipment exhibi-
tion, Conexpo-75, held in Chicago, attracted
several Soviet heavy equipment administra-
tors, including the minister of construction,
road and municipal machine building, Yefim
Novoselov. Novoselov'~ ministry has expressed
an interest in purchasing excavators, bull-
dozers, cranes, and related equipment from
US manufacturers. Accorr~panying the minister
were A. S . B3trakov, a c.~puty minister of;
land reclamation ~.~a water rE sources; the
three top officials of Traktoroeksport, an
association that imparts farm equipment;
and the dil ~tor of a road machine factory.
--Ten leading Soviet foreign traders, headed
by Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade Vladimir
Alkhimov, attended a session ~.f the US-USSR
Trade and Economic Council in Washington.
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--Soviot spocialiato in truck production fror7
ttiu Ministry of tha llutomotivo Tnilustry
visitod Gonoral Motors to study tha company's
production tochniquos. 11 ministry spokosman
indicata~.l that thc~ dologation has in mind a
joint projoct for tho manuf acturo of truck
parts and pnsaiblo collaharation :luring 19fif~-
a5 on a truck production complax ovan laraor
than Kama.
March 5, 1975
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