POLAND: MOSCOW BACKS POLISH LEADERS

Created: 4/20/1981

OCR scan of the original document, errors are possible

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POLAND: Moscow Backs Polish Leaders

In an apparent effort to bolster Kania's leadership before ito party plenum this coming weekend, the SovietsSaturday issued

iheir most direot hiph'lwil exprenGiv. of confidence in the Polish regime's ability to solve tte own problems sines ths Warsaw Paot

ewrnit in December.

Soviet party propaganda chief and Central Committee memberlose associate of President Brezhnev, cossaented on Soviet television that Polish party andleaders were "doing everything possible' tothe "complicated" situation and that they "will be able" to accomplish this. The Soviets believe, according to Zamyatin, that the Polish working class, "guided by the party, should itself cope with the crisis." ffjj

emarks went beyond Brezhnev's highly qualified statement of confidence at tho Czechoslovak party congresspril, which did not mention the party or its leadership, and the communique from the Soviet-Polish summit in early Harch, which stated only that Poland's Communists have the "potontial" to turn the course of events. Hie comments, however. Included athat the USSR retained the right to intervene should the Polish party fail. ^0

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Zamyatin, in one of the most direct accusations of US interferenceigh-level Soviet, accused "some figures" in thc US of warning the Polish Government against taking measures to ensureveiledto President Reagan's statement in Harch about the dire consequences of an internal crackdown in Poland. Zamyatin did not comment on the grass-roots pressure within the Polish party for demi- ratio reforms or on the registration of "Ruralhich the Soviet media briefly noted on Saturday, fffl

Original document.

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