The Russian Ministry of Security has ordered Baltimore Su correspondent Will Englund to report back to Moscow's Lefortovo prison today for questioning, after informing him yesterday that his American lawyer and a U.S. Embassy official will be barred from the meeting.
Mr. Englund answered an earlier summons yesterday but declined to cooperate when the Russian investigator refused to allow the lawyer and the consular official to be present.
The correspondent has not been told why the Ministry of Security, known as the KGB until 1991, wants to question him. But the official who summoned him, a captain in the former KGB named Viktor A. Shkarin, is the chief investigator in a case being prepared against Vil Mirzayanov, a Russian chemist.
The Sun published two articles describing chemical weapons research in the former Soviet Union. Dr. Mirzayanov was quoted extensively in the first article.
Dr. Mirzayanov was arrested by Ministry of Security agents in October and charged with revealing state secrets.
Kathryn Christensen, managing editor of the Baltimore Sun, said yesterday that the newspaper was "very concerned about the actions of the Security Ministry."
"We hope that no further attempts at intimidation are made and that the matter is resolved quickly," she said.