Russia, United States want espionage case resolved

Tuesday, Dec. 9, 1997 | 11:13 a.m.

Richard L. Bliss, formerly of Longview, Wash., was released Saturday with the written guarantee from his U.S. employer that he would stay in Russia and be available for questioning.

In some of the first footage of Bliss, NTV television showed him leaving the intelligence agency's regional office on Tuesday.

Bliss refused to answer journalists' questions, but said he wanted to tell his family that he was OK and that they didn't need to worry about him.

In Longview, Wash., where Bliss grew up, dozens of worshippers participated in a 12-hour vigil that ended Tuesday morning. They sang and prayed for his return. His father and stepmother - Richard and Lou Bliss - attended, wearing the yellow ribbons that since the 1980 Iran hostage crisis have come to symbolize waiting for loved ones.

Igor Shabduralsulov, a Russian government spokesman, said Gore and Chernomyrdin spoke by telephone Friday. The conversation "helped invigorate the two countries' diplomatic efforts and facilitate Russia's decision to release Bliss from custody," he told the Interfax news agency.

Bliss was arrested Nov. 25 in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. Russian intelligence officials accused him of surveying sensitive sites using satellite receivers brought into Russia illegally.

Both Russia and the United States want to resolve the issue.

"We are asking the Russian authorities to act as quickly as possible to resolve this case," U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Hoagland said Tuesday. "As we said earlier, there is no credible reason for charges of espionage to be made against him."

A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Valery Nesterushkin, told Interfax, "We believe the investigation of the Bliss case should be brought to an end to clarify the matter."

But, he said, everything depends on the Russian security department that is conducting the investigation.

U.S. officials have warned that the arrest could harm relations and set back efforts to improve trade between the two countries.

Nesterushkin said Moscow was not interested in politicizing or over-dramatizing the Bliss case, which he said should not be linked to trade or U.S. investment.

"From our point of view, there is no direct link between the two matters," he told Interfax.

Bliss, 29, is a field technician employed by Qualcomm Inc., a San Diego firm working with a Russian company to install a cellular phone system in the Rostov-on-Don region.

U.S. Embassy officials, who are in daily contact with Bliss, reported that he is in good health following his release from jail and spends most of his time watching videos, resting and eating.