Soviets, Irate Over U.N. Staff Cuts, Charge U.S. With Own Spy Motive

The Soviet news agency Tass, reacting angrily to a U.S. demand for staff cuts at Soviet missions to the United Nations, accused the Americans on Saturday of using the world organization for intelligence purposes.

“The United States intensively exploits the fact that U.N. headquarters is located in New York for espionage purposes,” Tass said. Earlier, it said that the Reagan Administration, seeking to force changes in U.N. policy to suit its interests, used “raw pressure and blackmail” and took “one hostile action after another” against Communist and developing countries.

On Friday, the State Department announced that the staff of 275 diplomats at the Soviet mission must be cut to 170 in four stages by 1988, while two other Soviet U.N. missions--those of Byelorussia and the Ukraine--would be limited to 10 diplomats each. The two Soviet republics were granted U.N. membership when the United Nations was founded to redress a Western imbalance among the original 51 members.

Quoting the Long Island newspaper Newsday, Tass also said that the U.N. headquarters is “possibly one of the biggest targets of opportunity for the American special services.”

Tass charged that the U.S. National Security Agency has an unwritten agreement with cable firms allowing it to intercept diplomatic messages to U.N. missions.