Ambassador Extraordinary

Busy, dapper Constantine Oumansky, the Soviet Union's Ambassador Extraordinary and Envoy Plenipotentiary to Mexico, last week delivered the plainest statement made since Moscow on the U.S.S.R.'s plans for Poland. Essence of his statement: the U.S.S.R.'s "frontier with Poland" lies west of the Polish territory taken by the Russians in 1939, and that territory is still part of Soviet Russia.

The fact that the Soviet Ambassador in Mexico City was entrusted with such a declaration did not surprise U.S. diplomats. When Oumansky went to Mexico last June, he seemed to be a big man for a little job, in a post which has only recently been raised from a Ministry to an Embassy. In experience and prestige, Oumansky certainly outranks Andrei Gromyko, the new Russian Ambassador in Washington.

A good guess is that Constantine Oumansky's job is bigger than his Embassy. Russia is recognized by only four of 20 Latin American republics--Mexico, Cuba, Colombia and Uruguay--and he has a fertile field to cultivate in the south. From Mexico, he can look north as well, and deal quietly with matters of state which may be too subtle for Soviet diplomats in more conspicuous spots.

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