American Notes Diplomats

After the U.S. expelled 55 Soviet diplomats last month, the Kremlin retaliated by pulling 260 hired Soviet workers out of the U.S. embassy in Moscow and the consulate in Leningrad, leaving Americans to do their own housekeeping. But some help is on the way. The State Department last week announced that it had awarded Pacific Architects and Engineers Inc. of Los Angeles a five-year, $10 million contract to provide American drivers, electricians and plumbers for the missions.

Pacific, which supplies 4,500 service people to private companies and U.S. Government installations worldwide, will hire 60 to 90 American workers for the contract, leaving as many as 200 positions unfilled. Admitted one State Department official: "There was quite a bit of redundancy of jobs at the missions."