1971-12-16
By Hedrick Smith
Page: 16
MOSCOW, Dec. 15—The Soviet Union today publicly ignored leaked warnings from the White House that continued Soviet encouragement of Indian military actions in East Pakistan could lead to reconsideration of President Nixon's visit to Moscow next May.
Officials here are known to resent attempts by the Nixon Administration to link Soviet moves in one region to policies and negotiations elsewhere and to picture Moscow as eager to have an American President come here at the sacrifice of established Soviet policies.
But the Foreign Ministry today had no comment on Western press reports that Henry A. Kissinger, the President's adviser on national security, had linked Soviet backing for the Indian military campaign in East Pakistan with the general state of Soviet‐American relations and Mr. Nixon's visit in particular.
Well ‐ placed Soviet sources chose instead to focus attention on White House statements backtracking from the original comments rather than on the veiled warnings themselves. The controlled Soviet press, which has been reporting many facets of the Indian‐Pakistani war and related diplomacy, took no notice of the incident whatsoever.
Diplomats here saw strong indications that the Soviet Union considered the collapse of Pakistani military resistance in East Pakistan imminent, permitting Moscow to be more forthcoming on a cease‐fire.
One diplomat suggested that the Kremlin was prepared to weather Mr. Nixon's displeasure on the assumption that once the fighting stopped and the crisis had eased, talk of reconsidering the President's visit would fade.
It was understood that even before Mr. Kissinger had his controversial background briefing for reporters, the United States chargé d'affaires here, Boris H. Klosson, had conveyed the President's displeasure over the Soviet position on the Indian‐Pakistani war to the Soviet Foreign Ministry.
Soviet recognition of East Pakistan as an independent nation is considered very unlikely among well‐Informed diplomats here. The Soviet Union was depicted as anxious not to see relations with Pakistan broken in order to avoid being closed out of a country where China's influence is now great.