U.S. Expels 55 Soviets : Retaliation Order Cuts Diplomats in Washington and S.F. : Action Was Forced--State Dept.

The United States, retaliating for the expulsion from Moscow of five American diplomats on spy allegations, today ordered 55 Soviets to leave the country by Nov. 1.

It was the largest mass expulsion of Soviet diplomats from the United States ever. Moscow’s weekend expulsion of the five Americans followed, in turn, the U.S. expulsion of 25 Soviet U.N. diplomats.

With today’s move, the Soviet Embassy in Washington and the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco were reduced in size to correspond to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and the U.S. Consulate in Leningrad--a total of 251 on both sides.

Previously, the Soviets had been permitted a level of 320 diplomatic personnel in the United States.

State Department spokesman Charles E. Redman announced the massive retaliation with “regrets” but said it was forced on the Reagan Administration by the Soviet Union.

Redman, who had just been named chief department spokesman by Secretary of State George P. Shultz, said the Soviet Embassy will be reduced to 225 positions and the consulate in San Francisco to 26.

5 to Match 5 Americans

Fifty of the Soviets were ordered to leave in order to get down to the new level. The five others were declared persona non grata, the diplomatic language used in expulsion actions, matching the five Americans ordered out of the Soviet Union.

The five were identified as Vasily Fedotov, Oleg Likeachev, Aleksandr Metelkin, counselors, Nikolai Kokovin, attache, and Lev Zaytsev, consul.

Redman did not directly charge that the five were involved in espionage activities. But he stressed that their expulsion was caused by “the unjustified action by the Soviets in expelling five U.S. diplomats in Moscow.”

The expulsion of the four Soviets based in Washington and the one in San Francisco reduced Soviet diplomatic contingent to 246. Redman said these five can be replaced.

Of the 55 ordered expelled, 42 are based in Washington and 13 in San Francisco.

Redman said the Kremlin was made aware before it expelled five American diplomats from Moscow and Leningrad on Saturday that the Administration would adopt measures to install parity in diplomatic representation in the two countries, if the Americans were expelled.

In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady Gerasimov suggested before the United States acted that the Soviets would respond to any new expulsions.

‘It Is Time to Stop’

“If the United States will insist on continuing this game of tit for tat, then this can continue to infinity. We consider it is time to stop,” he said.

Tass press agency said immediately after the expulsions that “the Reagan Administration has undertaken the next step aimed at worsening Soviet-American relations.”

At the White House, presidential spokesman Larry Speakes said the steps taken by the United States should not spill over into other areas.

“We would hope it does not interfere with progress made at Iceland and that we can continue to seek arms control and other agreements with the Soviet Union,” Speakes said.

As for the possibility of further retaliation by the Soviets, Speakes said that if they do “the President has a number of options that continue to be at his disposal.” He did not elaborate.

The expulsion decision was made at a White House meeting Monday of Reagan, Shultz, chief of staff Donald T. Regan, national security adviser John M. Poindexter and others, Speakes said.