News In Brief

Soviet director receives award - and ultimatum

Yuri Lyubimov, the controversial Soviet stage director, carried off the Standard newspaper's best-director award, one of Britain's top theater awards, for his London dramatization of ''Crime and Punishment.''

After the ceremony, Anatoly Masko, the Soviet Embassy's first secretary for cultural affairs, took Mr. Lyubimov into a private room and demanded the director return to Russia. Lyubimov has been a frequent target of official criticism in Moscow.