The Deputy Mayor of Moscow, Anatoly Kostanko, arrived here Friday at the head of a seven-member Soviet delegation. They were invited by the Israel-Soviet Friendship Committee to join in celebrating the 39th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany.
According to members of the group, their visit does not indicate any change in Soviet relations with Israel which have not existed on a diplomatic or trade level since 1967. In speaking to reporters, they seemed mainly interested in justifying their government’s decision to boycott the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Members of the delegation include Andrei Bulayev of the Moscow Institute of World Economy and International Relations and Vladimir Runikov of the Soviet news agency Novosty. The visitors insisted that Soviet participation in the Olympics was cancelled because the U.S. could not guarantee the security of Soviet athletes, not for political reasons.
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