DATE=11/30/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON - RUSSIA (L)
NUMBER=2-256675
BYLINE=DEBORAH TATE
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:


INTRO:  President Clinton says he does not believe U-S
policy toward Moscow should be affected by new
allegations of espionage in the United States and
Russia.  Correspondent Deborah Tate reports from the
White House.

TEXT:  A day after U-S officials charged a Navy petty
officer passed classified information to Russia,
Russian authorities say a U-S diplomat in Moscow was
detained for illegally gathering secret military
information.

Mr. Clinton responded to the latest allegation of
espionage after delivering a statement to a group of
parents and children about a plan to assist families
with the birth a child.

            // CLINTON ACT //

      We should investigate this case, as we do all
      others, but I do not think we should stop our
      efforts to try to drastically cut nuclear
      weapons, or end corruption in Russia, or do all
      the other things we are supporting.

            // END ACT //

U-S officials say Petty Officer First Class Daniel
King, who had been assigned to the Navy's
communications decoding unit at Fort Meade, Maryland,
is awaiting a military hearing after admitting he had
passed secrets to the Russians in 1994.

In Moscow, the second secretary in the U-S Embassy's
political section, Cheri Leberknight, was briefly
detained Monday after what Russian officials say was
an effort to obtain classified information from a
Russian citizen.   (SIGNED)

NEB/DAT/RAE



30-Nov-1999 13:28 PM EDT (30-Nov-1999 1828 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.