Friday, May 12, 1972
Shots May Have Hit Russian Ship
WASHINGTON (AP & UPI) --Pentagon sources said Wednesday at least one and possibly more Soviet ships in Haiphong Harbor may have been caught in a cross fire between U.S. mine-laying planes and North Vietnamese shore batteries."There was an awful lot of shooting going on from both sides," one well-placed source said.Both the military sources and Pentagon officials speaking "on the record" denied there had been any deliberate attacks on any ships in North Vietnamese ports. "There have not been any ships on the target lists," a spokesman said.The White House said Wednesday it is thoroughly investigating China News Agency reports that U.S. planes hit two Chinese freighters in North Vietnamese waters.Presidential spokesman Ronald L. Ziegler said "we are aware of statements from news reports" that the ships were hit.He added, however, that the Defense Department is "not authorized" to target freighters of that country.Ziegler also told reporters at a briefing that the White House has no report that a Soviet freighter was hit, as announced by the North Vietnamese News Agency.Ziegler said, "U.S. aircraft are not authorized to target freighters of any other country."He declined to amplify his remarks.A North Vietnamese broadcast reported that two Soviet ships, the Babouchkine and the Pezeck, had been attacked by U.S. warplanes Tuesday and that four crewmen had been injured. The broadcast gave no further details.Pentagon sources said that at least the Pezeck probably had been hit inadvertently during the mining operation Monday night.Pentagon officials also denied persistent reports that two Soviet minesweepers were nearing Haiphong after setting out from the Soviet Union five days ago."We just have seen nothing that would support that," and official spokesman said. He said the closest Soviet minesweepers to North Vietnam were in port at Bangladesh, and had shown no signs of leaving."Meanwhile, reports were received that two of Cuba's largest merchant ships, presently unloading sugar at an unspecified North Vietnamese port, have been ordered to remain, Cuban sources said Wednesday.The sources identified the vessels as the Imias and the El Jigue.The two ships will complete the work of unloading the sugar shipment, which apparently will continue beyond the 11 a.m. Thursday deadline for activation of U.S.-planted mines outside North Vietnamese harbors.On the diplomatic front, Ziegler strongly denied that national security affairs advisor Henry A. Kissinger offered to support a coalition government in secret talks with Vietnamese negotiators in Paris May 2.Ziegler said he had thoroughly studied transcripts of the talks and averred that Kissinger "made no such offer."The report that the United States might be willing to accept a coalition government to replace South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu was published in the New York Times Wednesday."I would suggest that any report that the United States expressed willingness to accept a coalition is not true," said Ziegler.He also told reporters there has been no diplomatic contact with the Soviet Union since Nixon's televised address Monday night. However, he said the White House technical advance team currently in Moscow is proceeding with its preparations for Nixon's visit, starting May 22.Ziegler said telegrams and telephone calls were continuing to pour in at the ratio of five or six to one in support of Nixon's decision to mine North Vietnamese harbors. He said there were more than 20,000 telegrams now in the White House and 17,000 more backlogged in the country.He also cited a poll by Opinion Research showing "74 per cent of the people of the United States support the action the President has taken."Ziegler said reaction in Congress has "broken down along party lines, it would appear.""Shots May Have Hit Russian Ship", by (AP and UPI), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes on Friday, May 12, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.