LOCAL SOVIET VIEW OF CZECHOSLOVAK

C O N F I D E N T I A L PRAGUE 08311 BRUSSELS FOR USEC-AMBASSADOR NILES E.O. 12356: DECL: OADR TAGS: PREL PINR CZ UR SUBJECT: LOCAL SOVIET VIEW OF CZECHOSLOVAK DEVELOPMENTS ¶1. CONFIDENTIAL - ENTIRE TEXT. ¶2. SUMMARY. IN NOVEMBER 28 CONVERSATION WITH SOVIET COUNTERPART, DCM WAS TOLD THAT USE OF FORCE OR INTERVENTION OF CZECHOSLOVAK MILITARY IN POLITICAL SITUATION HERE IS OUT OF THE QUESTION. SOVIET EMBASSY EXPECTED AND IS RELAXED ABOUT CHANGES HERE, BUT WANTS TO SEE SOCIALISM PRESERVED. THEY WOULD BE CONCERNED ABOUT ANY DEVELOPMENTS HERE WHICH SUGGEST "ANTI-SOVIETISM." END SUMMARY. ¶3. IN CONVERSATION WITH SOVIET DCM, MARAT KUZNECOV, AT YUGOSLAV NATIONAL DAY RECEPTION NOVEMBER 28, DCM WAS TOLD THAT SOVIET EMBASSY IS CONVINCED THAT "NO MORE BATONS" WILL BE USED HERE AND THAT THE CZECHOSLOVAK MILITARY WILL NOT RPT NOT INTERVENE IN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS. KUZNECOV SERVED PREVIOUSLY IN BRATISLAVA AND WAS IN PRAGUE IN ¶1968. ¶4. KUZNECOV SAID THAT SOVIET EMBASSY WAS AWARE THAT THERE WOULD BE CHANGE HERE AND AGREED THAT THERE SHOULD BE A MORE "HUMAN" APPROACH TO BUILDING SOCIALISM IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA. HE THOUGHT IT NOTEWORTHY AND, BY IMPLICATION, POSITIVE THAT DUBCEK IN A WEEKEND ADDRESS IN PRAGUE HAD QUOTED GORBACHEV AS USING THE TERM (WHICH DUBCEK HIMSELF COINED IN 1968),"SOCIALISM WITH A HUMAN FACE." HE SAID THERE WILL CERTAINLY BE A SERIOUS DIALOGUE WITH THE OPPOSITION, BUT SAID HE INVARIABLY REFUSED TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA. ¶5. ASKED WHETHER THE SOVIET EMBASSY IS RELAXED ABOUT DEVELOPMENTS HERE,KUZNECOV REPLIED THAT THE EMBASSY IS WATCHING CLOSELY TO SEE THAT CERTAIN OPPOSITION ELEMENTS DO NOT FOSTER A SPIRIT OF ANTI-SOVIETISM. THE USSR WANTS SOCIALISM TO BE MAINTAINED IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA. THE NEW CZECHOSLOVAK COMMUNIST PARTY LEADERSHIP HAS PEOPLE IN IT WHO RECOGNIZE THAT THE 1968 PARTY PROGRAM HAD MANY GOOD ELEMENTS FOR BUILDING SOCIALISM. WHEN DCM REMARKED THAT THERE WERE VARIOUS DEFINITIONS OF SOCIALISM AND THAT GORBACHEV'S NOVEMBER 26 PRAVDA INTERVIEW (MOSCOW 33157) CONFIRMED THIS TO BE THE CASE, KUZNECOV SMILED BROADLY AND NODDED. HOWEVER, HE SIMPLY REITERATED THAT IT IS IN THE SOVIET INTEREST TO KEEP CZECHOSLOVAKIA SOCIALIST AND TO AVOID ANTI-SOVIET AND ANTI-COMMUNIST SENTIMENTS. ¶6. KUZNECOV WAS MORE RELAXED AND FRIENDLY THAN USUAL AND JOKED THAT THE CHINESE AMBASSADOR HAD JUST BEEN PRESSING HIM, UNSUCCESSFULLY, FOR HIS VIEWS ON WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN HERE. HE FIRST CHARACTERIZED THE SITUATION AS REFLECTING "TENSION" (NAPETI), BUT QUICKLY AGREED THAT "DIFFICULT" OR "COMPLEX" MIGHT BE BETTER TERMS AND THAT THERE WAS NO "TENSION" IN THE SENSE OF POSSIBLE USE OF VIOLENCE OR FORCE. HE EMPHASIZED THAT THE POSITIVE ASPECT OF DEVELOP- MENTS HERE INVOLVED A MORE "HUMAN" APPROACH TO SOCIALISM. HOWEVER, HE EMPHASIZED THAT THE SOVIET POSITION IS THAT THEY WILL NOT INTERFERE IN THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF OTHER STATES. BLACK