MOSCOW, Saturday, Dec. 18 —The Soviet Union asserted early today that the Indian victory in East Pakistan had cleared the way for the “legally elected representatives of the East Pakistani people” to take power in their region.

A Soviet Foreign Ministry statement, couched in careful language, stopped short of demanding independence for East Pakistan or of joining India in recognizing the rebel government of Bangladesh, or Bengal Nation, as the insurgents call East Pakistan.

But the statement, carried by Tess, the Soviet press agency, was seen as applying immediate pressures in the wake of the Indian victory for the release of Sheik Mujibur Rahman, the jailed East Pakistani leader, and rot turning over power in Dacca to his political movement. Sheik Mujib was not mentioned by name, however.

Taking a pointedly moderate line, the Soviet statement praised Pakistan as well as India for putting into effect a cease‐fire on the Indian subcontinent, welcoming this as a “relaxation of the dangerous development of events there.”

Without directly mentioning either the Pakistani surrender or the Indian victory, in evident deference to Pakistani sensitivity, Moscow said the halt in fighting “insures conditions for the formal transition of power into the hands of the legally elected representatives of the East Pakistani people.”
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Both the content and timing of the Soviet statement had presumably been worked out during intensive consultations between Soviet and Indian representatives both here and in New Delhi as the Indian Army drove toward victory in East Pakistan.

Indian sources had reported that Moscow would not quickly recognize Bangladesh, primarily to avoid a break in diplomatic relations with Pakistan that would leave Moscow excluded from a country where China's influence was very strong.

The Soviet Foreign Ministry statement repeated Moscow's position that, from the outset, ending the Indian‐Pakistani dispute required a political settlement based on the overwhelming election victory of Sheik Mujib's political movement in the December, 1970. Pakistani elections. Its campaign demand then was for autonomy, though its leaders now want independence.

But unlike the Soviet press, the Foreign Ministry did not chastize the Pakistani Government for repressions in East Pakistan. nor did it specifically attack the United States and China for opposing the Soviet position in the United Nations. It seemed designed to ease diplomatic tensions now that India had achieved its objective in the fighting.

By quickly declaring a ceasefire on the western front, India has confirmed “her peaceful intentions,” the Soviet statement said, adding that Pakistan's acceptance of the cease‐fire “causes satisfaction.”

Evidently having in mind Peking's earlier charges of Indian military intrusions — denied by New Delhi—the Soviet statement called on all countries “to refrain from any steps that could impede the normalization of the situation there.”