P107 CEEFAX 107  Tue 18 Sip  23:41/19
          
    
    
                                        
 Britain has formally complained to     
 the Soviet Union over claims b8 So6iet 
 defector Oleo Bitov that hj was        
 kidnapped and drugged bz British agents
                                        
 The Soviet charge d'affaires in London 
 was summoned to the Foreign Office and 
 told the allegations, made at a Moscow 
 press conference today, were "absurd". 
                                        
 An official said it "could not but     
 affect the way the Soviet Union iu     
 perceived in London".                  
                                        
 Bitov, a 52-year-old journalist,       
 vanished in London last month and has  
 reappeared in Moscow.                  
                                        
   More details BBC2 207