Italy: The No-Show Soviets

For each of the past four years, distinguished scientists from around the world have gathered in the Sicilian resort town of Erice to conduct seminars on the dangers of nuclear war. For the past two years, the Soviet Union has sent a delegation. But when this year's six-day conference got under way last week, the Soviets did not appear. Instead Moscow simply sent a message to the conference organizer inviting him to the Soviet Union to discuss "our scientific relationship." Speculation as to why the Soviets did not attend has centered on the disappearance in Spain last spring of top Soviet mathematician Vladimir Alexandrov.

An expert on the "nuclear winter" theory, which holds that an atomic war would bring about a new ice age by raising dust that would block out the sun's rays, Alexandrov was last seen in Madrid on March 31. The Soviets have also lost an official from their embassy in Rome, Vitali Yurtchenko, who vanished without trace earlier this month. There are no signs that either man has defected to the West. Under discussion at the seminar is a plan to study the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons. The project would require a freer exchange of information than Moscow would be prepared to accept.