European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 4, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A v. Amp a a a mis it. A a a a ,.- v a a j4s& a a Mvi is amps Susan Harris Vladivostok cosmopolitan soviet port by Bryan Hodgson a a National geographic. Or decades Vladivostok has been a top secret City banned to foreign and Domestic visitors alike to protect the privacy of the soviet Pacific Fleet now the secret is out despite years of neglect this poor City of 650,000 people at the Southeastern tip of the soviet Union on the sea of Japan has preserved much of its turn of the Century cosmopolitan Charm. Red and yellow trolley cars trundle past comfortable old buildings along Svet Lanska Street. On the waterfront in the elaborate Green train station built in 1902, you can still buy a ticket to Moscow on the trans siberian express. _ on tree shaded Hillside streets the mansions of Quot Quot bygone merchants Are Graceful in their decrepitude a something that cannot be said for More recent High Rise buildings whose unkempt facades mock their own heroic murals and socialist slogans r v a not Long ago As the first american journalist to take a helicopter tour Over the Golden Horn Vladivostok s Mam. Harbor i was struck by the fact that warships were far outnumbered by fleets of deep sea fishing trawlers and merchant ships. \. That helped explain the City s surprisingly cosmopolitan flavor despite the cold War soviet and us. Fishing interests have Long been engaged in joint ventures _ exchanging fish for  _ the Many Young men tooling around Vladivostok in japanese cars Are members of a new economic generation a merchant seamen who Are paid in  White abroad and who bring Home used cars _ Western finery and an impatience for change. Just now their future appears to Fie in older hands. Quot we Are a Tittle drunk with the idea of the free Market. Maybe in the future we will have such Freedom. But now we still need the state Quot says Vatery k. Lozovoy. He is vice chairman of the Primo sky executive committee which oversees the affairs of the Primo sky regions 2 million inhabitants and an Economy based largely on Timber and mining. A. Quot our most vital need is joint business ventures with the United states. For instance we have the second largest resource of borate in the world. But we Are competing with an american company. If we could cooperate rather than compete we could control the whole world  Quot we can to focus exclusively on ,&Quot says Victo Tumanov director of Pri Morsky a economic Aerial View of the main Harbor of Vladivostok with a vat shipyard foreground serving the soviet Pacific Fleet Crew member of the Cruiser Princeton greets soviet sailors after the american ship docked on a Goodwill visit to Vladivostok last september relations department. Quot we need to make things better in  _ a a a. A a. Tumanov is in charge of the difficult details a what incentives Are needed to encourage Industry and How to change Moscow a share of local revenues which a currently totals about 70 percent. A. Quot we re receiving Many delegations from leading japanese firms Quot Tumanov says. Quot we re puzzled that so few americans have  Vladivostok is no stranger to International affairs. Founded about 1860 and linked with Western Russia in 1902 by the 5,768-mile great trans siberian railway it became a Crossroads for Trade with China and Korea whose Borders lie Only 100 Miles South. A. Crippled russian warships limped Back to the Golden. Horn after their catastrophic defeat by the japanese Fleet in the 1905 Battle of Tsushima. A a in 1917, thousands of american British and japanese troops landed there in a confused and futile Quot intervention Quot that served Only to delay the communist takeover of Eastern Russia until 1922. One of the strangest episodes in the City a history took place in 1937,"when the american Cruiser Augusta paid a Courtesy visit when the ship departed dictator Josef Stalin ordered the arrest of top soviet naval officers on. Grounds that they had been tainted by the Contact. A sign of changing times came last september when two american ships the Cruiser Princeton and the frigate Reuben James sailed into the Golden Horn to return an earlier visit by soviet ships to san Diego Calif for three Days the City staged parties athletic events and concerts in Honor of the americans. V when the ships departed a Banner floated from the Princeton s Bridgeivostok, we love you Quot it proclaimed. A. A f. ,. A / a tuesday december 4, 1990 the stars and stripes Page 13