F.B.I. REPORTEDLY KNEW OF RUSSIAN'S ACTIVITIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404280020-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: October 6, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000404280020-3
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE_
By JUDITH CUMMrNGS "I wouldn't say they were very
Speeiad to The New York Times smart people," said Alexander Polo-
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 5 - A priest vets, the publisher. "I'd be surprised if
The priest said he called the F.B.I. they worked for,the K.G.B. I think they
said today that he told Federal agents himself and was informed that "they were just happy to play some special
two years ago that a parishioner, Swet- were well acquainted with her activi- role, to get some respect from our peo-
lana Ogorodnikova, was active in pro- ties." An F.B.I. affidavit, filed Tues- ple."
Soviet activities. He said he had been day in Federal District Court in Los The bureau affidavit said that a
-told, "We know all about her." Aneles, said g o ova was search of the couple's apartment
interviewed by Mrs. often en between 1
Mrs. Ogorodnikova and her husband, turned up such. equipment as cipher
Nikolay Ogorodnikov, were arrested :February. 1982 and August 1984. pads, code books, concealment devices
' tuesday on charges of participating in Bill Baker, an assistant director of and microdots, as well as bureau docu-
an espionage conspiracy involving the the F.B.I.,in Washington, said that she. ments and records of payments to Mr.
cooperation of an agent of the Federal had given the bureau information and Miller.
Bureau of Investigation. 'could have been acting as a double
Two Russian Communities
- Ri!`ha rA W Millar a i-_- --t agent. I
Q.B.I. Reportedly Knew
Of Russian's Activities'
first known instance of an agent being
charged in an espionage case.
,charges of selling counterespionage se- received welfare payments of $242 a communities in Los Angeles, the Rus-
crets to the Ogorodnikovs. It was the. month and $72 in food stamps for her- sian Christians and the Russian Jews.
NEW YORK TIMES
6 October 1984
"She made no effort to fit in here,"
he said. "She was a chain-smoker,
dressed like an aging punk-rocker. No,
she was bragging. How could she be a
K.G.B. agent who was so open about
Soviet sympathies?"
The publisher of a popular Russian
Jewish magazine here, Almanac-Pano-
rama, echoed the priest's view.
for 20 years, was ar.ested Tuesday on In 1983 and 1984, Mrs. Ogorodnikova . There are two Russian immigrant
The Russian couple, who came to this
country in 1973, attracted considerable
attention in the Russian immigrant
community here for their openly pro-:
Soviet views. Mrs. Ogorodnikova dis-
tributed Soviet-made movies and
magazines.
Son Forced From School
?_ The Rev. Stephen Fitzgerald, pastor
,of the Russian Orthodox Church of the
'Holy Virgin Mary in Hollywood, said in
an interview today that he learned two
years ago that Mrs. Ogorodnikova had
persuaded a parish family of five to re-
turn to the Soviet Union. He said she
,had gotten the Soviet Consulate in San
;Francisco to pay for the move, as well
as to promise a full scholarship to a
Soviet university for one of the family's
children.
of her husband, according to a spokes-
man for the Department of Public So-
cial Services. Some Los Angeles
County supervisors have called for an
investigation of the awarding of those
payments.
She Called Herself an Agent
todnikova identified herself to Mr.
Miller as "a major" of the K.G.B, the
Soviet security agency, and talked of
promises from Soviet officials that her
Recent emigres are said to number
about 15,000, with many more the de-
scendants of earlier immigrants, dat-
ing principally to the period surround-
ing the 1917 Communist Revolution.
Both immigrant communities are
centered in the aging neighborhoods of
Hollywood and West Hollywood. They
share Plummer Park there as a gath-
ering place, primarily for the elderly,
and for cultural activities. But each
Russian community has its own cul-
tural center, its network of social-serv-
ice agencies and its own popular publi-
cations, Panorama for the Jews and
The California Messenger for the
Christians.
Father Fitzgerald said that as a re-
sult, he made Mrs. Ogorodnikova with-
draw her son, Matthew, from the
church school. Angry, she "said we
couldn't do that, that she would come
back here with a hundred people and
that she would tell the F.B.I," Father.
Fitzgerald said.
-school in return for her efforts. Bureau
officials in Washington said Mr. Miller
was believed to have had a sexual rela-
tionship with Mrs. Ogorodnikova. I There have been three major waves
Many in the Russian community of Russian immigration to Los An-
'here, said to be the largest outside of , geles: after the Russian Revolution
New York, said they wondered whether and World War I, after World War II,
Mr. Miller was seduced not by a profes- and from about 1973 to 1980, when the
sional spy but by an ambitious free- Soviet Government relaxed immigra-'
lancer. tion policies regarding Jews. The re-
Father Fitzgerald, for one, rejected cent Jewish arrivals are known here as
the notion that she was actually a : "the Third Wave."
K.G.B. agent. "A K.G.B. groupie,
,maybe," he said.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000404280020-3