The World : Senators Cancel Soviet Trip

Four U.S. senators canceled a trip to the Soviet Union when a staff aide was denied a visa because a report he wrote about Soviet intervention in Afghanistan angered Soviet officials. John Ritch, an aide to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who visited Afghanistan last year, cited reports of atrocities there. Sen. William S. Cohen (R-Me.) said the trip was canceled because “we cannot allow the Soviets to engage in manipulation of a Senate delegation.” The delegation was also to have included Sens. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), Warren B. Rudman (R-N.H.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.).