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ACTION EUR-12
INFO OCT-01 NEA-09 ISO-00 CIAE-00 DODE-00 PM-03 H-02
INR-07 L-02 NSAE-00 NSC-05 PA-01 PRS-01 SP-02 SS-15
USIA-06 OMB-01 SAM-01 /068 W
--------------------- 108901
P 121206Z MAY 75
FM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2526
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E.O. 11652 N/A
TAGS: PINT, PROP, CE
SUBJ: USSR-STAGED 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF "DEFEAT OF HITLERITE
FASCISM"
1. SUMMARY: "30TH ANNIVERSARY OF VICTORY OVER HITLERITE
FASCISM" RECEIVED EXTREMELY HEAVY PRESS PLAY MAY 7 AND 8.
SOVIET AUTHORS AND "SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS" DEPICTED
WORLD WAR II MILITARY STRUGGLE AS ESSENTIALLY GERMAN-SOVIET
AFFAIR. SOVIET AMBASSADOR RAFIK NISHANOV DECLARED SOVIET
ARMS DEFEATED NAZI "WORLD IMPERIALIST FORCES" AND GDR
ENVOY LAUDED "MIRACULOUS" GDR-USSR LINKS. CZECH MAY 9
NATIONAL DAY STATEMENT PRAISED "GLORIOUS SOVIET ARMY".
ACTING PRIME MINISTER MAITHRIPALA SENANAYAKE, MINISTER OF
FISHERIES GEORGE RAJAPAKSE, AND LAWYER-JUDGE WITH LONG-
TIME COMMUNIST BLOC TIES, JAYA PATHRIANA, EULOGIZED SOVIET
ACHIEVEMENTS. ONLY ANURA BANDARANAIKE AMONG SRI LANKA
FIGURES DISPUTED SOVIET INTERPRETATION OF HISTORY,
POINTING OUT THAT UNITED EFFORT WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR
VICTORY. END SUMMARY.
2. FOLLOWING PREVIEWS IN SUNDAY MAY 4 PRESS, THREE-DAY
BLITZ RE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF SOVIET ARMY "TRIUMPH" OVER
NAZISM HIT SRI LANKA'S ENGLISH AND VERNACULAR PRESS
MAY 7 AND 8. SOVIET UNION'S DECISIVE ROLE IN DESTRUCTION
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OF "HITLERITE AND JAPANESE MILIARISM" AND ROLE OF
"ASIAN PEOPLES WHO WAGED A CONTINOUS LIBERATION STRUGGLE
AGAINST THE COLONIAL OPPRESSORS AND MILITARIST
OCCUPATIONISTS," CONSTITUTED PRINCIPAL THEMESM. SOVIET-
GERMAN 1939 PACT PRAISED AS WAY TO POSTPONE CONFLICT
UNTIL USSR STRENGTH WAS SUFFICIENT TO DEFEAT HITLER.
3. AMBASSADOR FROM USSR, GDR, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, AND
POLAND MADE SPEECHES AND PUT OUT PRESS ITEMS. AMBASSADOR
NISHANOV LINKED SOVIET MILITARY SUCCESS WITH SURVIVAL OF
SOVIET UNION, "WORLD CIVILIZATION, PROGRESS, AND
DEMOCARACY." AMBASSADOR KRAFT BUMBEL OF GDR CONDEMNED HILTER
FASCISM, DRIVEN BY "MONOPLOY CAPITALISM AND BIG MILITARIST
LANDLORDS". IN CZECH NATIONAL DAY PRESS SPECIAL MAY 9
AMBASSADOR FRANTISEK MALIK EXPRESED "DEEP GRATITUDE" TO THE
SOVIET PEOPLE WHO CARRIED THE MAIN BUDEN" OF SECOND WORLD WAR.
4. CEYLONESE CONTRIBUTIONS ECHOED SOVIET THESIS ABOUT
DECISIVE VICTORY ON EASTERN FRONT. RAJAPAKSE AND JAYA
PATHIRANA, A LEFTIST IDOELPGUE IN JUDGE'S CLOTHING, IN
CAPACITY AS PRESIDENTS OF "NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THIRTIETH
ANNIVERSARY OF VISTORY OVER FASICSM IN SECOND WORLD
WAR", ISSUED STATEMENTS PRAISING SOVIET ARMS AND "SOCIALIST
COMMONWEALTH" AND WARNED OF NEW FASCIST DICATORSHIPS FOR
UNWARY NATIONS. MINISTER OF HOUSING PIETER KEUNEMAN AND
S.A. WICKREMASINGHE, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL SECRTARY OF
SRI LANKA COMMUNIST PARTY, NOTED EXPANSION OF "SOCIALISM"
FROM "SINGLE COUNTRY INTO A WORLD SYSTEM" IN LAST 30 YEARS.
ACTING PRIME MINISTER SENANAYEKE LAUDED ACHIEVEMENTS
OF SOVIET ARMS, AND RECALLED CHILE AS EXAMPLE OF USE OF
VIOLENCE TO OPPOSE "PROGRESSIVE SOCIAL CHANGE."
5. ONLY PROMINENT SRI LANKA FIGURE TO CHALLENGE SOVIET
INTERPREATATION WAS PRIME MINISTER'S SON ANURA BANDARANAIKE. ANURA
SAID: "RUSSIA MADE A GREAT CONTRIBUPION TO THE DEFEAT OF
FASCISM", BUT "DEFEAT OF FASCISM WAS BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE UNITED
EFFORTS OF THE UNITED STATES, BRITIAN , FRANCE, YOGOSLAVIA,
AND MANY OTHER COUNTIRES." HIS REMARKS WERE REPORTED UNDER
TWO-COLUMN HEADLINE IN "CEYLON DAILY NEWS" -- "DEFEAT OF
FASCISM NOT BY RUSSIA ALONE -- ANURA."
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6. EDITOR OF AFTERNOON DAILY "CEYLON OBSERVER" HAS ALSO
PROMISED TO PRINT LOW-KEY, FACTUAL STORY BY PAO BRIGGS THAT
SETS RECORD STRAIGHT.
7. COMMENT ENTIRE AFFAIR BETRAYED HEAVY-HANDED SOVIET
STAGE MANAGEMENT, CP BXM PLAYING ONLY MODEST ROLE. FULSOME
PRESS PLAY WAS FURTHER EVIDENCE OF INCREASING SOVIET
PUBLICITY EFFORT WE HAVE NOTED OVER LAST SIX MONTHS. MAY
MARKS SO MANY LEFT-WING ANNIVERSARYIES IN SRI LANKA THAT
IMPACT OF 30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS MAY BE DULLED BEFORE
LONG, BUT, AS SOVIET PUBLICITY EXERCISE ABETTED BY GSL,
SHOW WAS IMPRESSIVE.
VAN HOLLEN
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