Department of State Inr Briefing Note- June 12, 1968

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

SOURCE(S)	CLASS./CONTROL(S)
FRIS 53 Moscow in Czech to Czech. Reuters Moscow June 11	Unclass The USSR announced today its first formal protest to Czech, since the Dubcek govt. began its reforms earlier this year. Key sections are as follows: "TASS has published the following report; the Czech newspaper per Lidova Demokracie reprinted on June 5 a provocative report from the NY Times which contained a fabrication that a certain Soviet general allegedly approved the issuing of a diplomatic passport to Czech. General Sejna." The USSR Min. of Fon. Aff. has sent a communication to the Czech Emb. in Moscow in which it was announced that the publication cannot but cause great embarrassment and protest because its contents pursue but one aim: to worsen Soviet-Czech relations. The conviction was expressed that the appropriate Czech organs will take the necessary measures in order to protect the friendly relations between the USSR and Czech, from similar reports in some organs of the Czech press.
Prague 2322 LOU	Slovak newspaper Praca on June 8 called the planned command-staff exercises by the Warsaw Pact on Czech territory an "militaristic organizational mistake" according to CTK, the Commentary agreed on the necessity for the new command of the Czech Army to prove to its allies that recent changes did not influence the combat readiness of Czech forces, but asserted the maneuvers should have been transferred to another Warsaw Pact country in view of the "psychological state of the population,"
Moscow 4182	Initial Soviet press coverage of Czech CO Plenum was limited to brief reports on proceedings—all highly selective and slanted to stress danger from anti-socialist forces (though Dubcek's remark re danger return to pre-1968 situation was mentioned), leading role of CPCS, and Czech-Soviet friendship and alliance.
INR OFFICE	BRIEFER K. Yalowitz