§ Mr. Soleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the reply of 30 July, Official Report, column 750 how many ideas for such visits have been put forward by the Soviet Government or by Soviet parliamentarians in the past three years or any convenient period; and what was the Government's response.
§ Mr. RifkindI am not aware that visits by deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR have been formally proposed by the Soviet Government in the past three years. Ideas of such visits have been put forward on several occasions by members of the Supreme Soviet. The Government's view, ever since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, has been that official inter-parliamentary exchanges with the Soviet Union would not be appropriate.