Britain Ousts 4 Czech Envoys on Spy Charges

Britain ordered the expulsion of four diplomats at Czechoslovakia’s Embassy on Thursday for “activities incompatible with their status,” and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said she is not willing to sacrifice national security for better ties with the East Bloc.

Czechoslovak Ambassador Jan Fidler, who was summoned to the Foreign Office, was told the four diplomats had 14 days to leave the country.

Fidler later issued a statement denying what he called the “totally unfounded allegations” of espionage.

Thatcher on Thursday told Parliament that Britain will act against East Bloc spies whatever the consequences for international relations.

“The action had to be taken regardless. The worst thing of all would have been to say that because we have better relations we could ignore these unacceptable activities,” she said.

Although ties between Britain and the Soviet Union have recently improved, frictions remain with Prague over human rights and alleged espionage.

It was not immediately clear whether Thursday’s expulsions, the second involving Czechoslovaks in a year, were related to the defection to Britain earlier this year of Czechoslovak diplomat Vlastimil Ludwik.

The four expelled are Jan Pavlicek, 39, third secretary and press attache; Dr. Helena Krepelkova, 38, a second secretary; Jan Sarkocy, 35, third secretary, and Rudolf Kasparovsky, 35, technical adviser.

Follows Last Week’s Ousters

The move comes less than a week after London expelled eight Soviet diplomats and three Soviet journalists, accusing them of spying. Moscow responded in kind, ousting 11 people including three British journalists.

On Thursday, a spokesman for the Soviet KGB said the government has evidence that the British journalists engaged in spying. It was the first time the Soviets had published detailed accusations against the three.

The British journalists--Jeremy Harris of the British Broadcasting Corp., Ian Glover-James of Independent Television News and Angus Roxburgh of The Sunday Times--have denied wrongdoing.

The Foreign Office said the two sets of expulsions from Britain were not linked.

In giving the Czechoslovaks 14 days to leave, the Foreign Office said it told Fidler that Britain still attaches great importance to ties between the two countries.

But it said it also reminded Fidler that he had been warned last September that Britain would not tolerate unacceptable activities by embassy staff members. That warning followed the expulsion of three Czechoslovak diplomats for espionage, to which Prague retaliated by ejecting two British diplomats.