East Germany Bans Soviet Magazine as Protest Against <i> Glasnost</i> Policy
East Germany has banned a popular Soviet magazine in an unprecedented move against Moscow’s glasnost (openness) policy that signals a growing rift between the two allies, Western diplomats said today.
“The East Germans are circling the wagons,” said one.
While the Soviet media are given considerable freedom to debate the country’s past and present, East Germany censors Protestant church newspapers for advocating reform and recently castigated a senior reporter for criticizing ministers about consumer shortages.
The latest move, in which the monthly Soviet digest Sputnik was struck from the post office distribution list, was announced in a terse report Saturday that outraged many East Germans. The authorities banned the October edition of Sputnik, which included articles describing Josef Stalin’s 1939 pact with Adolf Hitler shortly before World War II broke out.
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