US accuses Soviets of blackmail attempt

The US Embassy in Moscow has accused the Soviet Union of trying to blackmail and recruit two of its military attaches during a trip to the Ukrainian town of Rovno in January. An embassy spokesman said an account in a moscow newspaper Thursday of the two attaches' alleged behavior was "a series of falsehoods."

The report in Sovietskaya Rossiya newspaper, published by the ruling Communist Party, accused Maj. James A. Holbrook and Lt. Col. Thomas A. Spencer of drunkenness and sexual misconduct during a visit to Rovno Jan. 13. Until now the embassy declined all comment on the case.