The General Consul of the USSR in Zagreb on a visit to Slovenia

Ljubljana, 13 August - The General Consul of the USSR in Zagreb, Mr. Jurij S. Girenko, has been on a visit to Slovenia today, where he had divided meetings with member of the Presidency of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Ciril Zlobec and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Dimitrij Rupel, and with the president of the Slovenian government, Mr. Lojze Peterle. Mr. Girenko at this occasion issued a special statement of the Soviet government, in which it determines that conditions in Yugoslavia are getting worst and worst, and that it seems that the civil war between the Serbs and Croats is still not at an end. They also warn of the unclear border line between the offered good services from abroad and intervention into the internal affairs of Yugoslavia. During talks with the president of the Slovenian government, Mr. Girenko also stated that his state stands for peace and for the immediate solution of the Yugoslav crisis, the kind that the Yugoslav republics will decide for, without the intervention of foreign governments. The question also arose of what will happen to Slovenia after the moratorium has been concluded, he agreed with the discovery that Slovenia differs from Croatia in many ways, and that Yugoslavia, such as it is today, cannot exist anymore. The Soviet Union is also thinking of changes and modern forms of association between its republics.