Espionage: Moscow Plays Tit for Tat

Until last year the Kremlin usually responded with restraint to Western & expulsions of Soviet diplomats caught spying. In 1983, when France tossed out 47 Soviet diplomats on charges of spying, Moscow chose not to retaliate at all. That changed when the Soviet Union went head to head last September with Britain in a diplomatic row that ended with each country's expelling 31 of the other's representatives.

Late last week the game of tit for tat continued. After the French government politely gave four Soviets the heave-ho for spying on a French submarine base in Brittany, Moscow swiftly retaliated by expelling four French diplomats of equivalent rank. For good measure, the Soviets have also ordered the expulsion of two Italians, apparently in retaliation for the quiet ejection of two Soviets who left Rome last week. The Soviet actions seemed a confirmation that Soviet policy has hardened under Mikhail Gorbachev. Indeed, Western diplomats in Moscow suggested last week that the Kremlin's tough line may be a warning to the U.S., where spy scandals have increased the pressure on Washington to curtail the number of Soviets allowed in the country.