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The Times (London)

January 12 1988, Tuesday

Submarine issue surfaces again as Ryzhkov tries to woo

BYLINE: From CHRISTOPHER MOSEY

SECTION: Issue 62975.

LENGTH: 456 words

DATELINE:

Mr Nikolai Ryzhkov, the Soviet Prime Minister, yesterday launched a Scandinavian charm offensie, blighted only by undercurrents caused by and surface arguments over fishing rights in the Baltic.

Mr Ryzhkov had lunch with King Carl XVI Gustaf, and then affably advised Mr Ingvar Carlsson, the Prime Minister, to sink any submarines found lurking in his country's waters.

Mr Ryzhkov cast doubts on the 'evidence' produced by Mr Carlsson that the underwater intruders were Russian. This claim was based on a report on alleged incursions since 1981, when a Soviet whisky-class ran around near the naval base in the south of the country.

Despite Mr Ryzhkov's 'I see no submarines' attitude, the issue will surface repeatedly during his visit.

Sweden's non-Scoialist opposition leaders will raise the matter when they meet Mr Ryzhkov today, and the Norwegian Prime Minister, Mrs Gro Harlem Brundtland, is also likely to refer to submarines when Mr Ryzhkov arrives in Oslo on Thursday at the start of a three-day visit.

Mr Valentine Falin, head of the Novosti news agency, who is in Stockholm with Mr Ryzhkov, used a Russian proverb to sum up Mr Ryzhkov's attitude to Swedish claims about submarine violation: 'You can't create a horse from a hundred rabbits and you can't convert a hundred suspicions into proof.'

There is less friction over the 20-year-old dispute on Baltic fishing rights, which has moved towards a solution in recent negotiations. There are now hopes that an agreement may be signed during Mr Ryzhkov's visit.

The dispute concerns 5,000 square miles off the swedish island of Gotland. The Soviet Union is understood to have conceded 70 per cent of the area to Sweden, but Mr Carlsson is demanding 75 per cent.

Another agreement will be signed aimed at speeding information between Sweden and the Soviet Union in the event of nuclear power plant accidents, such as the one at Chernobyl which deposited large quantities of radiation along the Swedish west coast. But Mr Carlsson also called for a 'more positive' attitude from Moscow towards efforts to curb industrial pollution of the air and the Baltic.

Despite the disagreements the emphasis yesterday was on reconciliation, a process that continues today when Mr Ryzhkov will lay a wreath on the grave of the former Prime Minister, Olof Palme, who was assassinated in 1986.

Dissenting voice: Mr Yuri Orlov, the Soviet dissident, arrived in Stockholm yesterday from the US, where he now lives. He will speak on human rights in the Soviet Union at two meetings, but said that his visit had not been planned to coincide with that of Mr Ryzhkov. He will also visit Oslo when Mr Ryzhkov.

LOAD-DATE: September 22, 2000

LANGUAGE: English

Copyright 1988 Times Newspapers Limited