Russia Says Bombs Were Near Her Ships

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31108, 11 July 1966, Page 13

Russia Says Bombs Were Near Her Ships

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

WASHINGTON, July 10.

The United States Secretary of State, Mr Dean Rusk, last night branded Russia’s new protest on Vietnam bombings as unnecessary, the Associated Press reported.

He said the Kremlin should instead call a peace conference.

wards a peaceful settlement.” Asked if the Soviet protest note was any reason for the United States to stop its air attacks in the Haiphong area, the Secretary of State replied: “I would not think so.” The Russian note, handed to the United States Embassy in Moscow today, charged the U.S. with threatening Soviet merchant ships and the lives of Soviet seamen by bombing the North Vietnamese port of Haiphong, A.A.P.-Reuter reported from Moscow. The responsibility for “possible consequences of such actions fully rests with the U.S. Government,” the note, quoted by the official Tass news agency said. During Strafing

“provacations” by American Armed Forces in Vietnam which create “a threat to Soviet merchant ships and are a gross violation of the principles of free navigation,” the A.P. said.

Mr Rusk voiced doubt that the Moscow protest would cause the United States to halt its air raids.

The Soviet Union ships large quantities of goods by sea to North Vietnam. Sources in Washington said this does not include military equipment, which is all sent overland by train through China.

He spoke to reporters on returning from a two-week Far Eastern trip. Shortly before, word had reached Washington of the Soviet protest note.

The protest said that United States bombing had endangered Soviet ships in the Haiphong area, A.A.P.-Reuter reported. Mr Rusk said he had not seen the text of the Soviet Note, A.A.P.-Reuter reported. Exact Target He said: “All that kind of talk from the Soviet Union is unnecessary.” U.S. planes had been hitting their “exact targets.” Mr Rusk said that the Soviet Union was co-chairman of the Geneva Conference and should get together with Britain, the other co-chairman, to “get this thing started to-

The note said that during strafing of Haiphong mooring places by American planes at noon on Wednesday, fragments and machinegun fire fell close to the Soviet merchant ships Kuibyshev, Sovietsk, and Ustilug, which were at the port. Four hours later, planes dropped a number of big objects around the motorship Komsomol at anchor in the Ha Long Bay.

Informed American sources have said that one factor limiting United States raids on Haiphong is the danger of accidentally hitting Soviet ships in port and thus possibly causing the Russians to step up their aid to North Vietnam.

According to Tass, the note termed the U.S. actions as