Still, Mr. Gorbachev's remarks today seemed to suggest that Moscow is open to more fundamental changes in its relations with East bloc allies.

There, he launched a campaign against the Russians and their Eastern bloc allies, asserting they used diplomatic cover for espionage.

The embargo, the lost economic support from former Soviet bloc allies and the Cuban Government's economic mismanagement have combined to bring the standard of living to subsistence level.

At the time the Soviet Union and its eastern bloc allies, including Czechoslovakia were transitioning from communism to democracy.

While Gorbachev's political initiatives were positive for freedom and democracy in the Soviet Union and its Eastern bloc allies, the economic policy of his government gradually brought the country close to disaster.

Educational, economic, and foreign aid links between Congo and its Eastern bloc allies were extensive, with the Congolese military and security forces receiving significant Soviet, East German, and Cuban assistance.

The articles were a highly unusual breach of the taboo against publicly criticizing Soviet bloc allies.

The Soviets (and most of their Eastern bloc allies) used two types of jamming transmitter.

The article, in the newspaper Sovetskaya Rossiya, was a highly unusual breach of the official taboo against publicly criticizing Soviet bloc allies.

The internal troubles of Eastern bloc allies remain a delicate subject, an area little affected by the greater freedom of discussion permitted under Mr. Gorbachev.