Soviet Union: Trouble on the Party Line

The switchboard breaks down, and rumors fly

The Moscow Olympic Games produced an unexpected benefit for human rights activists: international direct-dial telephone lines that vastly increased the flow of unauthorized information in and out of the Soviet Union. Installed for the benefit of the thousands of journalists, athletes and spectators who flocked to Moscow in July 1980, the sophisticated French-built electronic switchboard enabled Soviet citizens to keep in closer touch with friends and family members in Western Europe and the U.S.

No longer. After reducing the number of direct-dial lines available for outgoing calls and then eliminating them, the Kremlin has now made it impossible for anyone to call from outside the country without going through an operator. The move has produced delays of 24 hours or more, and made it much easier for the authorities to monitor all communications.

To complicate matters further, virtually all Soviet international telephone communications went out of service at week’s end. The apparent reason, according to experts at American Telephone and Telegraph Co., was the breakdown of a Moscow computer that handles international calls. Although all telex lines and a few phone links continued to function sporadically, most Muscovites trying to reach an international operator were told brusquely to “please call later.” Communications eventually were restored, but in rumor-rife Moscow, the event was unusual enough to prompt immediate speculation that a change of leadership, possibly involving ailing President Leonid Brezhnev, was in the works, even though there was scant evidence to support that conclusion.

The Soviet telephone system is definitely overloaded and in need of extensive repairs. Since the Soviets own far fewer computerized switching machines than do most Western telephone systems, they have virtually no back-up equipment when a breakdown occurs. The Soviets claim that their modern direct-dial equipment has been transferred only temporarily from international service, where telephone usage is relatively light, to the domestic network. Said an official of the Ministry of Communications last week: “We will increase the number of lines and reintroduce direct dialing within two years or so.”

While agreeing that the internal Soviet telephone system urgently needs improvement, Western experts doubt the Soviet explanation. They see the elimination of direct international dialing as part of a general Soviet crackdown on communications with the outside world. Last month the Kremlin expelled Newsweek Bureau Chief Andrew Nagorski, accusing him of unethical journalistic practices. The Soviets arrested several members of an unauthorized “peace group” that was founded in June to press for better relations with the U.S. And last week Yelena Bonner, the wife of dissident Physicist Andrei Sakharov, announced that “cruel persecution” had finally destroyed the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group, an organization set up to monitor the Soviet Union’s compliance with the human rights provisions of the Helsinki Final Act signed by 35 nations in 1975.

The author of the crackdown, according to some Western analysts, is Vitali Fedorchuk, who replaced Yuri Andropov as head of the secret police last May. Fedorchuk, who won a reputation for harsh treatment of dissidents when he was the KGB’s chief in the Ukraine, is believed to be more sensitive than his predecessor to police complaints that there is too much contact between Soviet citizens and the outside world.