Soviets Deny ‘Spy Dust’ Accusation : ‘Absurd Inventions’ Intended to ‘Fan Hostility,’ Tass Says

The Soviet Union today rejected as “absurd” the U.S. charge that the KBG had been using an invisible powder to track employees of the American Embassy in Moscow.

The U.S. Embassy said it briefed about 25 diplomats from other nations today on Washington’s claim that a potentially cancer-causing chemical dust known as NPPD, or nitrophenylpentadiene, had been used by the Soviet secret police. U.S. nationals in Moscow were told about the “spy dust” Wednesday.

In the first Soviet media acknowledgement of the accusations made by the U.S. government on Wednesday, the official news agency Tass said the Soviet Embassy in Washington had denied the charges.

“The Soviet side resolutely rejects the absurd inventions that some chemical substances are being used against personnel of U.S. establishments in the Soviet Union,” Tass said.

‘Slanderous Campaign’

Tass said the U.S. claims were intended “to prepare the ground for the regular slanderous campaign against the Soviet Union, to poison the atmosphere in relations between our two countries and to fan hostility toward Soviet people.”

U.S. Embassy spokesman Jaroslav Verner said diplomats invited for today’s briefing by charge d’affaires Richard Coombs were “from NATO allies as well as others.” He declined to say which countries were represented.

Coombs said Wednesday night that Soviet secret agents had been exposing some U.S. diplomats to NPPD. The chemical leaves traces on documents, possessions and people that the people carrying it come in contact with, he said. (Stories, Page 5.)

In New York, the deputy Soviet representative to the United Nations said on the ABC program “Nightline” that the U.S. charges were false.

‘Can’t Happen’

“This invention with the powder deserves to have its place in the very cheap . . . detective story. It can’t happen in our country, where we protect the foreign diplomats,” said Vladimir Shustov.