The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) will open an office in Moscow, according to a communique issued in the Soviet capital at the end of five days of talks held there between PLO chief Yasir Arafat and Soviet officials. The communique also reportedly called for the PLO to be represented at the Geneva Mideast peace talks on the same basis as other participants. The communique, issued today, in effect recognizes the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinians.
Despite this announcement there was some speculation here that the USSR’s support of the PLO was more perfunctory than all-embracing in view of the fact that Arafat was not received either by the high Communist Party officials or by Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. According to the Beirut-based PLO-controlled news agency, WAFA, the PLO delegation had received pledges of new Soviet military aid. Official reports from Moscow, however, did not confirm the WAFA report, which noted that Moscow had agreed to supply the PLO with “defensive weapons.” including ground-to-air missile and anti-armor weapons.
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