The Charm School

Moscow, was quoted in yesterday’s statement as saying the embassy was “substantially satisfied” with the Soviet explanation of the incident. Banks said there was “no reason to believe that either Hollis or Rhodes were the targets of any foul play.”
    (In Moscow, the Soviet newspaper Pravda carried a three paragraph story about the helicopter crash in yesterday’s editions. It said a Russian helicopter pilot and co-pilot also died in the crash. Because Pravda rarely prints stories about accidents inside the Soviet Union, the story was seen by U.S. diplomats as a public apology of sorts by the Kremlin.)
    The State Department released its statement yesterday a few hours after Hollis was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in a military service. Rhodes was also buried yesterday in Sea Cliff, a small New York village on Long Island. A high-level source at the State Department said yesterday’s statement was issued to reassure the families of Hollis and Rhodes and also to end “unwarranted speculation” in the press about their deaths.
    The Soviet government ordered Hollis and Rhodes to leave the country about two weeks ago after it accused them of taking an unauthorized automobile trip. The State Department refused to confirm or deny the Soviets’ charge, but a spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Moscow acknowledged at the time that Hollis had been sent by the embassy to Mozhaisk, with the Soviet government’s full knowledge and permission, to claim the body of an American tourist, Gregory Fisher, 23, of New Canaan, Conn. Fisher had died in an automobile accident earlier this month outside Moscow, and Hollis was investigating the matter, the spokesman said. Rhodes had accompanied Hollis to claim Fisher’s body because she and Hollis were friends, not because she was on embassy business, the spokesman said. However, both had passes issued by the Soviet government, which are necessary for embassy staff for travel outside Moscow.
    In retaliation for the expulsion of Hollis and Rhodes, the State Department ordered the expulsion of two Soviet embassy employees in Washington. A State Department official denied that this round of expulsions, after years of relatively good diplomatic relations, was a signal that the diplomatic thaw was cooling. “This was an isolated incident,” the official was quoted as saying, “and will not affect ongoing initiatives between the two countries.”
    Members of the Fisher family said yesterday that they still are not satisfied with the explanation that the Soviets and State Department have given about Gregory Fisher’s death. One family member said he felt it was “odd” that Hollis and Rhodes were expelled and later died after they began investigating Fisher’s death. But the State Department said it didn’t believe the matters were related.
    The Kremlin’s decision to expel Hollis and Rhodes was considered severe by U.S. diplomats, who said the U.S. and Soviets usually only file routine complaints when they discover a diplomat has violated travel restrictions. The harshness of the Soviets’ action prompted some Western diplomats to speculate that Hollis and Rhodes might have used the trip to conduct surveillance on the Soviets’ tightly guarded military facilities in the area. The Pentagon and USIS both categorically denied that Hollis and Rhodes were involved in any “activities related to surveillance or espionage.” The USIS issued a strongly worded statement that said its personnel “have never and will never” participate in espionage activities. “The USIS is not part of that world,” a USIS spokesman said. A spokesman for the Pentagon acknowledged that some countries—including the Soviet Union—use military attachés at embassies for “intelligence gathering,” but he denied that Hollis was involved in any such activity.
    Friends of the Hollis family said Hollis’ father, retired Air Force Gen. Benjamin Hollis, had asked the Pentagon for a briefing on the death of his son. A family friend said Gen. Hollis was concerned because his son’s body was so badly burned that it could not be positively identified.
    (A high-ranking embassy official in Moscow, who visited the helicopter crash site, told Geraldine Callahan of the Post’s Moscow bureau that the helicopter “burned with surprising intensity” after it crashed. The fire was so hot that it completely consumed the four bodies aboard, this official said. “The remains were no more than ashes