FIRST OFF . . .

Mickey (Mouse) and Mischa (the Soviet bear) are hitting it off. The 60-year-old rodent’s first visit to the Soviet Union is making quite a splash in Moscow, where a contingent from the Walt Disney Co. is showing some Disney films Sunday at a state-sponsored film festival showing Disney fare like “Fantasia,” “101 Dalmatians,” “Bambi” and other films and shorts. Roy E. Disney, a nephew of Walt Disney, told the Soviet state newspaper Izvestia that a film would be made of Mickey’s trip to Moscow, including his meetings with Soviet children and the heroes of Russian folk tales. Disney spokesman Howard Green said Sunday the Disney group--in the Soviet Union at the Soviet’s invitation--insisted that all children, not just those of Party-member parents, get to see the films. The Soviets got their first taste of Disney last year, when “Snow White” was screened to selected audiences in Moscow to mark the film’s 50th anniversary. But is Mickey just platforming for higher office in Moscow? Possibly: the United Nations is reportedly discussing the idea of having Mickey become a U.N. ambassador--for UNICEF, the organization’s child-relief fund. A U. N. official quoted by Reuters found the move, first proposed by Disney, “public relations in vulgar form.” But the official added that the P.R. could work wonders for the U. N.’s image as well as Mickey’s.