Thornburgh Tells Soviets of Rule of Law

Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh cautioned the Soviet Union on Wednesday that its policy of glasnost , or increased openness, will not by itself convert the Soviet Union into a nation based on the rule of law.

Speaking to students at Moscow State University, where Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev earned his law degree, Thornburgh said that reforms being attempted “will last only if the government and the justice system themselves are subject to the rule of law and to checks that create a balance of civic power.”

The appearance marked Thornburgh’s broadest contact with Soviet citizens in the course of a five-day official mission, during which he entered KGB headquarters for a closed meeting with the head of the security and espionage agency and received an ovation from the Supreme Soviet as he waved to the lawmakers from a visitors’ gallery.

In the unprecedented meeting Tuesday with Vladimir A. Kryuchkov, chairman of the Committee for State Security, or KGB, Thornburgh noted that he had not been able to visit the agency’s headquarters in 1979, when he last was in the Soviet Union.

Kryuchkov, according to Thornburgh aide David Runkel, who sat in on the session, asked what such a visit would have meant to the political career of Thornburgh, who was then in his first year as governor of Pennsylvania. Thornburgh gestured with his hand that it would have nose-dived, Runkel said.

In his remarks to the law students, Thornburgh put a positive spin on concerns that U.S. officials are expressing privately about the ability of Soviet lawmakers and the Kremlin leadership to institute checks on their own power and authority.

“We can only marvel at a legislative body which is establishing the bounds of its authority and, at the same time, dealing with the pressing needs of the day,” the attorney general said.

Underscoring U.S. hopes for the success of perestroika, the political and economic reform program instituted by Gorbachev, Thornburgh said that “countries which observe the rule of law at home and respect the rights of their citizens are the countries which observe international law and respect the rights of others in the international community.”

Asked about his impression of the visit to the Supreme Soviet, he said: “One thing about democracy is that it is sometimes disorganized and inefficient. The session of the Supreme Soviet, like our own Congress, is no exception.”

In the KGB session, Kryuchkov talked of the need to combat terrorism in general and nuclear terrorism in particular, Runkel said. Kryuchkov said many underestimate the theft of nuclear materials that is occurring around the world and that the problem should be dealt with.

Thornburgh will wind up his visit tonight.