MAN EARLIER DENOUNCED AS CIA AGENT ASSAILS 'U.S. IMPERIALISM' ON SOVIET TV

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303590007-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: April 3, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/23: CIA-RDP
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THE BALTIMORE SUN
3 April 1980
Man earlier denounced as CIA agent
assails 'U.S. imperialism' on Soviet TV
From Wire Services Nall said in Washington that a man identi-
Moscow-A man who was arrested in fied as Robert Lee had appeared on Af-
Afghanistan-in February and denounced in ghan television several days before and
Moscow and Kabul as an American work- made similar comments.
ing for the Central Intelligence Agency, "We don't know who he is," Mr. Nall
appeared on Soviet television last night said. "We haven't had a chance to talk to
and condemned "U.S. imperialism." him, although we have asked. the appropri-
Speaking in a- slurred drawl, Robert ate Afghan authorities about him."
Lee said: "I think most importantly that
the Muslim people of Afghanistan realize The Soviet television broadcaster intro-
they are being tricked and deceived by duced him as an "American citizen" ar-
U.S. imperialism." rested during disturbances in Kabul, the
The interview appeared to end abrupt- Afghan capital, February 22 that she said
ly. were provoked by "internal and external
The man, who appeared to be in his counterrevolutionaries"
early 30s and was wearing steel-rimmed She said Mr. Lee had agreed of his own
tinted glasses, a heavy turtleneck sweater free will to be interviewed by a Soviet tel-
and a raincoat, bore no apparent signs of. evision special correspondent, Leonid Zol-
ill treatment. torevski.
State Department spokesman David The television broadcaster made no
mention of repeated charges by the Soviet
and Afghan official media that Mr. Lee
was an agent the CIA had sent to Afghani-
stan to stir up antigovernment feeling.
The broadcaster also did not mention
an announcement by pro-Soviet authori-
ties in Kabul in February that Mr. Lee had
been arrested with 16 Pakistani "agents"
and that he and one Pakistani would stand
trial on sabotage charges.
In reply to questions by a Tass corre-
spondent, Mr. Lee said he was a chemistry
student from Berkeley, Calif., and had left
the United States "in recent times," when
he had gone to Afghanistan.
He described events in Afghanistan as
"another example of what we saw 20
years ago in the struggle for freedom in
Cuba and just as we saw in Vietnam."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303590007-6