‘Reds Under Each Bed’--Soviet Scoffs at Spy Stories

A Foreign Ministry spokesman today dismissed charges that KGB agents used sex to recruit two U.S. Embassy Marine guards as spies, saying Washington fears “Reds are under each bed.”

Gennady Gerasimov told a news conference that the U.S. order to withdraw the 28-member guard contingent for security reasons--the first time an entire embassy guard unit has been ordered home--was “a defeat of the famous U.S. Marines, the victors of Grenada.”

Gerasimov also vehemently denied allegations that a diplomat in the Soviet Embassy in Paris operated a spy ring that stole secrets of the European commercial space program.

He termed those charges “totally absurd” but made lighthearted, cynical responses to questions involving the sex-and-spies scandal involving Marines accused of allowing Soviet spies into the embassy building.

“We totally reject all the allegations of Paris. As to the case in Moscow, we can only smile at what is said about this story,” he said. “It is really funny that 28 staunch Marines are brought back from the American Embassy because they allegedly were unable to withstand the charms of blonde spies.

“We were surprised by this (order to withdraw) which shows a defeat of the famous U.S. Marines, the former victors of Grenada. Recently we have witnessed a loss of the capability to resist the enemy and sometimes one can fear that Reds are under each bed.”

He did not deny Marines may have had contact with Soviet citizens, but he said the value of such contacts to Soviet intelligence agents was dubious.

“If you act on the premise of objective positions, you will agree that even if a Marine had certain contacts with Soviet citizens what information can a Marine have? His main purpose is to ensure security at the embassy. I believe that this is just another wave of repeated allegations of Soviet spying,” Gerasimov said.