Like a cameo appearance in a movie or television show, two Soviet visitors provided an unexpected surprise at the Monday debut of a monthly Salt Lake County Commission press conference.
The County Commission plans to hold the conferences once each month.During the Monday media meet, Commissioners Mike Stewart, Bart Barker and Tom Shimizu had given updates on items of county business they considered newsworthy when, on cue, Soviet scientists Valeiry Zyukov and Alexey Chadovich were ushered into the room. The object, said county Public Information Director Jeri Cartwright, was to introduce the Soviet visitors to the news media. But the two Russians from Troitsk got much more than an introduction.
Reporters lobbed political questions at the duo that covered the gamut of current news events that have a Soviet angle: What do you think of Hungary becoming a republic? What do you think of the situation in East Germany? Some Soviets have said the war in Afghanistan was a mistake. Do you agree?
Chadovich, who is the deputy head of software and research laboratories at the Kurchatov Atomic Energy Institute in Troitsk, a Moscow suburb, speaks good English and fielded some of the questions directly. Other questions he passed on to Zyukov, his superior, and then translated Zyukov's Russian answers.
Chadovich said he and Zyukov have been kept so busy since arriving in Salt Lake Oct. 24 that they haven't had time to catch up on the latest developments in world events. Zyukov's response to the question about the Soviet's role in the war in Afghanistan wasn't hard for the reporters to translate because of one recognizable word: Vietnam.
"Afghanistan was a mistake," Chadovich translated from Zyukov. "In the history of the United States there was also a mistake in the Vietnam War."
The focus of the questions shifted to query the Soviet's opinions of Salt Lake and whether the Soviets found parallels between society in Troitsk and Utah.
"You guys find it easy to get a vodka martini here?" a television reporter asked.
"We've never tried," Chadovich responded politely.
After the press conference, all three commissioners said it wasn't their intent to subject the Soviets to such intense political questioning.
The Soviets are on a cultural and scientific exchange, Commissioner Tom Shimizu said, they aren't here representing Soviet foreign policy.
Chadovich said later the experience caught him off guard, but that answering the questions was not difficult. "You just answer what you think."
So what was the press conference supposed to be about?
Said Stewart: The county is still planning to build it's new minimum-security jail on the Oxbow property in South Salt Lake. Referring to the South Salt Lake City Council's attempts to block the plan through court action.
Said Shimizu: Olympic events won't be held in the Cottonwood canyons regardless of what the Wasatch Mountain Club or anyone else says.
On a separate note, Shimizu announced that several county officials will travel to San Francisco in two weeks to evaluate the earthquake damage as preparation for developing Salt Lake County's emergency response plans.
Said Barker: Two Soviets from Troitsk are in Salt Lake for one month as guests of county government. The punch of his announcement was upstaged by the Soviets' entrance, however.