
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 6, 1994                   TAG: 9401060038
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

RUSSIA, U.S. OPEN HOT LINE

Three decades ago, when Kennedy and Khrushchev opened the U.S.-Soviet hot line, their concern was nuclear calamity. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Les Aspin and his Russian counterpart broke in a new version with talk of partnerships and joint military exercises.

Aspin and Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev spoke through translators for 55 minutes on the "partnership line" that provides a direct link between the offices of the two military leaders.

There is no red phone, no flashing lights. The line uses ordinary commercial circuits with scramblers attached to desk phones at both ends to make the conversations secure. The caller must pay normal international rates for calls.

"The connection here is very good," Aspin said after a couple of shouted "Hellos" to open the conversation. "I, too, want to wish you a Happy New Year."

Aspin spoke of a memo of understanding the two signed in Washington last September that included an agreement to establish the phone link, and of joint exercises that American and Russian divisions are to carry out this summer.

"All of these are part of a pattern, and I think the latest example in this pattern now is the opening of this partnership line," he said.

The original Washington-Moscow hot line was set up in 1963, after the Cuban missile crisis, to help avert nuclear confrontations. It allowed only for teleprinter messages, not phone conversations, with the U.S. side transmitting in English and the Soviets responding in Russian using the Cyrillic alphabet. Facsimile capabilities were added to the line in 1988.

Aspin said the hot line was "more of a business line than a crisis line" but that it would also be of help when emergencies arose.

by CNB