Israeli Aide Visits Moscow; Peres Reported ‘Amazed’

Avraham Tamir, the highest-ranking Israeli official to visit the Soviet Union in at least 21 years, arrived here on an unofficial visit--a trip that reportedly “amazed” Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov said that Tamir, the director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, “arrived in Moscow as an individual, on a private tourist visa.”

Asked if Tamir would meet with any public officials, Gerasimov said, “Not that I am aware of.”

In Jerusalem, a Foreign Ministry official said the Moscow trip was a “technical visit to check the procedures and working conditions of the consular delegation,” which arrived in the Soviet Union earlier this year.

The spokesman said Peres did not know about Tamir’s Soviet visit and declined to comment further on Peres’ reaction. The prime minister’s office also said it was not informed in advance of the visit.

Arrives from Netherlands

The Jerusalem Post reported that Tamir arrived from the Netherlands, where he apparently received a visa to enter the Soviet Union.

A front-page headline of the newspaper Maariv read, “Peres Amazed: The Director of His Ministry Traveled to Moscow Without Reporting to Anyone.”

The newspaper also reported that when Peres was told that Tamir had received a visa to Moscow and was flying there, the foreign minister responded in a note to one of his aides: “Tell him to return immediately.”

“I assume he thought there was no need for special approval” because technical visits are within Tamir’s jurisdiction,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Tamir is the highest-ranking Israeli official to visit the Soviet Union since Moscow broke ties with Israel after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Relations between the two countries have thawed in recent years, with a Soviet consular delegation arriving in Israel more than a year ago.