MONITOR REPORTER'S NOTES, FILES, TAPES SEIZED BY SOVIETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000100100002-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 8, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: August 9, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/08: CIA-RDP90-00845R000100100002-4
ARTtCL_ ~._. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE hONITOR
ON PACE 9 August 1985
Monitor reporter's
notes, files, tapes
seized by Soviets
By Garr T aIchar
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monila
Lw*qrad
My return to the Soviet Union took its first unex-
pected turn when the ferry from Stockholm was di-
verted to an isolated pier in the Port of Leningrad.
A fisheries exhibition in Leningrad Harbor prompted
the diversion, I was told by officials. But awaiting the
Soviet ferry were two truckloads of uniformed border
guards of the Soviet secret police (the KGB) and cus-
toms officials.
These Soviet officials detained me on the pier for
three hours, searching the Monitor car and all my lug-
gage and effects. Eventually they confiscated notes,
files, and tape recordings I had taken with me to Fin-
land to cover the commemoration of the Helsinki ac-
cords last week. Ironically, the confiscation was a clear
violation of those accords, signed a decade ago by 35
states including the Soviet Union.
While being detained, I repeatedly identified myself
as an American correspondent, and produced an identi-
fication card indicating I was accredited by the Soviet
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And as they conducted
their search, the customs and KGB officials referred to
me as "the journalist."
But the officials refused to return the seized material,
including some 125 pages of documents, two tape re-
cordings, and magazines and books. They declared the
items were "anti-Soviet."
Among the materials confiscated were notes regard-
ing alleged Soviet human-rights abuses, persecution of
religious activists, and reference material on Soviet po-
litical prisoners.
The officials even seized dispatches by the official
Soviet news agency Tass, ause they made reference
to the United States Central Intelligence Agency. Tass
reports are widely reprintal in Soviet newspapers. Nev-
ertheless, border guards insisted they had to be closely
examined for "anti-Soviet" content.
One tape contained a previously recorded interview
with Yuri Balovlenkov, a Soviet citizen who recently
ended a hunger strike. He was protesting the refusal of
Soviet authorities to allow him to live in the US with his
American wife and two children.
The other was a recording of a press conference given
in Helsinki by Avital Shcharansky, wife of imprisoned
Jewish dissident Anatoly Shcharansky. I had used both
tapes for reference in the preparation of stories that I
wrote for the Monitor while attending the anniversary of
the signing of the Helsinki accords in the Finnish
capital.
Officials conducting the search initially insisted that
the only things confiscated were the two tape recordings
and one copy each of Time and Newsweek magazines.
But I noticed one official attempting to stuff a sheaf of
papers into a valise and recognized some of the material
from my own files.
After being challenged, the official admitted that he
had taken 125 pages of documents from my luggage. He
refused to allow the material to be inventoried or num.
bered. When I asked for access to a telephone in order to
contact the US consulate in Leningrad, the officials hast-
ily departed, leaving my luggage, personal effects, and
files strewn over the pier.
Before departing, however, the officials gave me a re-
ceipt for the seized material and said the documents
could be picked up in "three or four days," unless they
were still found to be "anti-Soviet." Informed sources
say there is little doubt the material would be duplicated
oefore being returned. if it is returned at all.
The Helsinki Final Act, signed by the late Soviet
President Leonid Brezhnev on Aug. 1, 1975, pledges the
states that signed it to "facilitate the freer and wider dis-
semination of information of all kinds ... and to improve
the conditions under which journalists from one partici-
pating state exercise their profession in another.
... "
The US has also signed the Helsinki Final Act.
The Final Act also pledges the countries which signed
it to "facilitate the improvement of the dissemination, on
their territorx of newspapers and printed publication ...
from the other participating states." During the anniver-
sary ceremonies in Helsinki, Soviet authorities insisted
that they complied with all provisions of the agreement.
However, the authorities at Leningrad told me that
Time and Newsweek are "prohibited" in the Soviet
Union and seized a copy of each of them.
I repeatedly cited the Helsinki Final Act in attempting
to prevent the confiscation of my material. I was told that
the act did not apply to "anti-Soviet" materials, and that
only Soviet authorities can decide what is "anti-Soviet."
One Western diplomat who was told of the incident
said, "I don't think there's any doubt that it's a violation
of the Helsinki Final Act."
Soviet authorities routinely praise the uniformed
AGE border guards for their "vigilance" in halting sus-
pect literature - not to mention people - at the coun-
try's borders. The Leningrad detachment came in for
special praise in the July 10 edition of Leningradskaya
Pravda, the official Communist Party newspaper here.
Leningrad has also earned a reputation as one of the
most difficult Soviet cities for foreigners to visit, despite
its architectural splendor and undeniable charm.
Incidents against US citizens. some including phys-
ical assaults, involved tourists and diplomats. But the
action against me is believed to be the first time in recent
years that a journalist's notes have been taken. And it is
the latest in what one well-informed source calls a
"spate" of incidents involving Americans in Leningrad.
A US consular official. Ronald Harms, was beaten by
unknown assailants in downtown Leningrad in April
1984. Official complicity was widely suspected, and the
State Department protested to Soviet authorities.
Last year a student studying Russian here was also
assaulted, allegedly after meeting with Soviet dissidents.
These incidents, along with others, prompted repeated
US State Department protests to Soviet authorities. And
the refusal of Soviet authorities to allow US citizens to
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