Wilson’s Mission Fails

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31116, 20 July 1966, Page 13

Wilson’s Mission Fails

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright! MOSCOW, July 19. Mr Harold Wilson went home today after failing to persuade the Soviet leaders to join him in new Vietnam peace moves. A British spokesman admitted that Mr Wilson’s nine hours’ talks with the Soviet Prime Minister, Mr Kosygin, yesterday, had brought no change on either side, though British sources claimed there had been most frank EastWest discussion on Vietnam. A Soviet spokesman told a late-night press conference at the Soviet foreign Ministry that the two sides were far apart and accused Britain of “continuing to support American aggression.” To describe the talks as the “frankest ever” did not correspond to reality, he told a questioner. The spokesman said a plea by Mr Wilson for Soviet intercession on behalf of United States pilots in Hanoi—threatened with trial as war criminals—was also rejected. He said Mr Wilson was told by Mr Kosygin that the question of the pilots was entirely a matter for Hanoi, “which will settle it as it finds fit.” If Britain really wanted a settlement, the Foreign Min-

Ister spokesman said, it should urge the United States to stop aggression, withdraw its troops from South Vietnam, stop interference in Vietnamese affairs and dismantle military bases in the South.

“A political solution can be found on this basis,” he said The spokesman’s strong words were seen by some observers in Moscow as a move to head off any Chinese accusations that the Kremlin’s position on Vietnam was

less firm than In the past. While the spokesman was speaking, Mr Wilson and Mr Kosygin were exchanging what were later described by British sources as lighthearted speeches at a Kremlin dinner.