1.
LV ZOOM IN Russian ship at quayside
0.10

2.
CU Sign Port of London Authority PAN TO family entering dock gates with police on guard
0.26

3.
SV PAN Cars going through police guard (2 shots)
0.40

4.
GV Russian ship
0.43

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LV Coach passing security guard
0.50

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LV Luggage loaded onto ship
1.04

7.
LV Car being loaded on board (2 shots)
1.15

8.
GV Baltika leaves Tilbury (2 shots)
1.36



Initials BB/0018 WLW/PN/BB/0112



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: About 200 Russians left Britain by ship today following a recent spy scandal in which 105 diplomats and travel officials were accused of espionage activities. They had been expelled. The officials, who were accompanied by their wives and children, left a week before the deadline set by the British Government. VISNEWS cameraman Leo Waller filmed their departure from Tilbury Docks.

SYNOPSIS: London, England...and an early departure by ship for expelled Soviet personnel and their families following the recent spy scandal in which diplomats and trade officials were accused of indulging in espionage activities. They were leaving a week before the deadline set by the British Government, which had named the 105 Russians accused of industrial espionage and extensive spying operations. The ship they boarded at London docks, under the watchful eye of policemen and security men, was the 7 1/2-thousand-ton Soviet cruise liner "Baltika', bound for Leningrad.

It was not known exactly how many of the expelled Russians left in the exodus, as both British and Soviet officials refused to name them. Port officials, however, said that between 70 and 80 of the 105 people named in the expulsion order went on board the ship--to the tune of "If I were a Rich Man", broadcast over a loudspeaker system. Meanwhile, diplomatic wrangling between the British and Soviet governments was continuing even as the "Baltika' left port. Britain still had to reply to Soviet charges that it was using British tourists and businessmen in Russia as spies. Russia also alleged that Soviet personnel in London had been 'beaten up, searched, and robbed.