WORLD : Czech Cites Slow Soviet Pullout
A Czechoslovak diplomat said today that the Kremlin is balking at a swift pullout of the estimated 75,000 Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia, citing difficulties in absorbing the returning soldiers.
Soviet and Czechoslovak officials resumed negotiations today in Moscow on the pullout, which the new Prague government wants completed by the end of the year.
Antonin Murgas, a spokesman for the Czechoslovak Embassy in Moscow, said the Soviets have argued that the deadline is impossible to meet for humanitarian reasons.
He said the Soviet Union contends such a pullout cannot begin until 1991 because there are not currently enough schools and homes in the nation for the families of the officers stationed in Czechoslovakia.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
