Warm Finnish Welcome for Gorbachev

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, arriving to a warm welcome, assured Finland’s president on Wednesday that Moscow has no intention of interfering with reforms in Hungary and Poland.

Hundreds of Finns shouting “Gorba, Gorba!” greeted him on the streets of the capital on the first day of a three-day official visit.

After a first round of talks with Finnish President Mauno Koivisto, a Soviet spokesman indicated that relations between the two neighbors are thriving. “The problem in our relationship is that we don’t have any serious problems dividing us,” Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov told reporters.

As for Hungary and Poland, Gerasimov said that “the events . . . concern the countries and the peoples in this region, and we have no moral or political right to interfere.”