France Ousts 4 Soviet Envoys in Navy Spy Case

France said today that it has expelled four Soviet diplomats after the announcement that a retired French naval veteran had been charged with spying here for the Soviet Union.

The Foreign Ministry said the four diplomats flew out of France over the weekend.

It was the largest single expulsion of Soviets from France since 1983, when 47 Soviet officials were told to leave.

Bernard Sourisseau, a retired French navy noncommissioned officer, was arrested more than a week ago and charged with spying on French nuclear submarine activities for the Soviet Union, the prosecutor’s office in Rennes revealed Thursday.

Saw Warship Movements

Sourisseau, 44, was alleged to have made regular trips to the Atlantic ports of Lorient and Brest and observed warship movements at naval installations there as well as activities near the Ile de Longue nuclear submarine base near Brest.

Officials said Sourisseau had been recruited by a Soviet KGB agent based in Paris.

Officials said that before Sourisseau’s arrest, they had noticed a persistent Soviet interest in the Lorient-Brest region. This included the unusual presence of Soviet trucks allegedly picking up freight, interest by the Soviet airline Aeroflot in beginning flights to Brest’s small airport and efforts to establish links between Brest and the Estonian port of Tallinn.

In November, 1983, Brest Mayor Jacques Berthelot suspended a friendship agreement with Tallinn, saying his city was becoming a key point for East Bloc espionage.

Earlier in 1983, an Aeroflot plane arriving in Brest to take tourists to the Soviet Union flew over the nearby Landivisiau naval air base.