LOCAL : FRIENDSHIP FLIGHT: Tony Circles the Globe : Tony, VIP in Moscow, Hopes Visit Will Improve Superpower Relations
An 11-year-old Californian who is flying around the world in a small plane is getting a taste of a Soviet life style that most Soviets never see.
Tony Aliengena and his family from San Juan Capistrano are staying in an exclusive hotel that usually serves members of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, their trip was the subject of an article in Pravda, and they held a news conference today in the Foreign Ministry where top government spokesmen usually give briefings.
Aliengena hopes to highlight his trip with the ultimate VIP perk, a meeting with President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
Asked how he thought his flight would affect superpower relations, the youth said, “I think my flight will maybe help as much as a summit meeting.”
The boy is to attend a Kremlin meeting Wednesday with unspecified officials. He hopes to meet Gorbachev there and present him with a friendship scroll signed by 250,000 American children.
The youth said that if he does meet the Soviet leader, he knows exactly what he’ll say. “Hello, Comrade Gorbachev. I’m happy I flew to Russia,” he declared in flawless Russian.
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