Britain Expels Two Soviets for Espionage Acts

The Foreign Office today ordered the expulsion of two Soviets--a diplomat and an employee of the Soviet airline Aeroflot--apparently for alleged espionage activities.

The government said in a statement that Soviet Ambassador Viktor I. Popov was called in this morning and informed that the two men must leave within seven days. They were identified as Capt. Oleg A. Los, assistant naval attache at the embassy, and Vyacheslav A. Grigorov, a member of the London staff of Aeroflot.

The statement said that Los, who is married and has been posted in London since November, 1982, “had been found to have engaged in activities incompatible with his status.” Grigorov, the statement said, “had also been found to have engaged in unacceptable activities,” a euphemism for spying.

The Soviet Embassy in London said in an angry statement that the expulsions were “an unwarranted action of an unfriendly character without any foundation whatever.”

It said that the expulsions were of a “political character” and that it will “protest this provocative measure.”

The Standard newspaper, citing “a report in London,” said the Kremlin had been advised to withdraw the two men quietly in order not to damage the current thaw in East-West relations.