MOSCOW -- Soviet cultural leaders, including famed poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, assembled for a news conference Friday and attacked violent American films such as the latest 'Rambo' movie, calling them 'warnography.'
Yevtushenko, who last month appealed during a closed meeting of writers for an end to heavy-handed censorship and privileges for the elite, joined briefly in thecondemnation.
The ronm was jammed, largely by those wondering if Yevtushenko would repeat his earlier criticism. His speech had been leaked to Western reporters when only a censored version appeared in the Soviet press.
However, the poet, who has acted as an in-house rebel of the literary establishment for more than two decades, told the news conference that his speech had been merely a restatement of his usual opposition to bureaucracy.
Sitting only a few feet from the deputy minister of culture, Georgi Ivanov, Yevtushenko called for more exchanges of films between the United States and the Soviet Union to improve understanding. He is also a film maker.
'Along side such horrible things as 'Rambo' and 'Red Dawn,'' Yevtushenko said, 'we see wonderful films made in the United States.'
The poet, who called violent films 'warnography,' also said cultural exchanges 'cannot be handed over to bureaucratic organizations completely.' He suggested instead that cultural leaders like himself from both sides should form a committee to arrange them.
The press conference was timed for the beginning of the new U.S.-Soviet cultural exchange agreement signed at the Geneva summit last November between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
'How can we resolve this flow of anti-Soviet films with the spirit of Geneva?' Ivanov, flanked by eight other cultural representatives, asked in an opening statement.
He condemned the 'so-called freedom of self-expression' behind the films such as 'Rambo,' 'Red Dawn' and a new mini-series entitled 'The American' -- all showing fighting against brutal Soviet or Soviet-backed troops.
'A new generation of Americans is being brought up which will consider murder natural, even necessary,' the official of the culture ministry said.
Ivanov placed all blame for the break in cultural ties on Washington, which halted exchanges in reprisal for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan six years ago.
But he said the Soviet Union continued to acquaint Soviet audiences with the works of American authors and playwrights during that period, while Soviet work had been kept from American audiences.
As an example of an American film honored by Moscow, Ivanov pointed to 'A Soldier's Story,' which describes American race problems.
