NEW SOVIET PEACE OFFENSIVE

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28261, 26 April 1957, Page 11

NEW SOVIET PEACE OFFENSIVE

Macmillan To Consider Moscow Visit

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, April 25. Russia is believed to be planning a new peace offensive aimed at restoring the Geneva spirit of peaceful coexistence which prevailed before the Hungarian uprising.

The Soviet Prime Minister (Marshal Bulganin), in an 8000-word letter to the British Prime Minister (Mr Macmillan), has suggested an improvement in relations between Britain and the Soviet Union.

Mr Macmillan will tonight discuss the letter and the feasibility of a visit to Moscow with Sir Winston Churchill, who is known to place much faith in the value of personal contacts between the heads of States.

An invitation to visit the Russian capital is understood to be still open to the head of the British Government. Sir Anthony Eden tentatively accepted it, after the visit of Marshal Bulganin and Mr Khrushchev to London, but Mr Macmillan made it known when he took office that an early visit to Russia was out of the question. Usually reliable sources said today that Marshal Bulganin’s letter was couched in very friendly terms. It covered the whole field of relations between the two countries. The sources said that Marshal Bulganin, dealing with the present series of Russian nuclear tests, claimed that the tests would not endanger anyone. The sources said Marshal Bulganin’s letter expanded a talk the Soviet Prime Minister had in Moscow recently with the British Ambassador (Sir Patrick Reilly). It was believed that Marshal Bulganin told Sir Patrick Reilly that he thought the time had come for a return to the spirit of peaceful coexistence which prevailed before the Hungarian uprising. Diplomatic observers said signs had appeared in recent days that Soviet leaders were plannng a new peace offensive aimed at restoring the Geneva spirit. The six months which have elapsed since the Hungarian uprising were apparently considered sufficient by Moscow to repair the ideological and economic damage wrought by the uprising in the Communist world.