Soviets Claim Sledgehammer Blow to U.S.

The official press agency Tass said today that the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and consulate in Leningrad suffered a “sledgehammer” blow when the Kremlin withdrew all 260 of the missions’ Soviet employees, including drivers, maintenance staff and clerical workers.

But, signaling that the Kremlin has accepted a call Thursday by the U.S. State Department for a truce, Tass said Moscow hopes the superpower duel of expulsions will be only a fleeting moment in diplomatic history.

The agency said Washington’s efforts to limit Soviet missions in the United States had boomeranged and hurt American interests more than those of Moscow.

“Judging by everything, the sledgehammer has dealt a painful blow to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, deprived of the help of all locally hired workers,” Tass said today. “In other words, some diplomats will now have to make way for cooks, chauffeurs and other technical workers.”

The Kremlin said it will not increase above the current 251 the number of diplomatic visas issued to Americans, meaning the United States may have to allocate some visas to maintenance and technical workers instead of diplomats.

Tass said it was difficult for Washington to argue against the Soviet measures because “they achieve precisely the parity in the balance of workers which so many people have not only talked about there, but even passed resolutions in Congress.”