WHERE VITALY'S FINGER POINTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201520010-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 19, 2012
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: October 9, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201520010-4
WASHINGTON TIMES
9 October 1985
VlTALY'S
, FINGER
RALPH DE TOLEDANO
LONDON
Accounts of the defection of
the KGB's No. S man,
Vitaly Yurchenko (other.
wise transliterated as
Dzhyrtchenko), first broken by me
and given international attention by
The Washington Times, have been
splashed over England's front pages
for several days. But though some
London newspapers have added
details of Mr. Ytuchenko's back-
ground and activities, there has
been almost no delving into highly
important aspects and conse-
quences of the case.
What was Mr. Yurchenko, head of
the KGBs Division 1 and director of
all agents and moles outside the
Soviet Union,
doing in Rome?
Mr. Yurchenko
was sent to Italy
to "handle" Pro-
fessor Vladimir
Alexandrov, So-
viet delegate to a
nuclear confer-
ence in Sicily,
whose defection
was largely
ignored by the
Western 'press.
The mission of
Mr. Yurchenko
and. the KGB
agents accompa-
nying him was to
kidnap or "liqui-
date" Mr. Alexan-
droK
Once in Rome,
however Mr Yur-
chenko slipped
away from his
associates and
surrendered to
Vatican City
authorities. He
chose the Vatican
because he was fearful that the Ital-
ians would return him to Moscow
The Vatican notified Italian Foreign
Minister Andreotti. who was kept
fully informed at developments. and
arranged for turning Mr Yurchenko
over to CIA officials in Rome.
Why did Vitaly defect at this time?
Tb answer this question, it is nec.
essary to go back to the emergence
of Mikhail Gorbachev as Soviet dic-
tator after the death of Konstantin
Chermmko. Mt Gorbachev was a
creature of Mr. Chernenko's prede-
cessor and former head of the KGB,
Yuri AndropoK Mr. Gorbachev has
had close political, if not organ-
izational. ties with the KGB, which
was instrumental in making him the
new Soviet voshd,
U nder Mt: Gorbachev, the KGB
again. has?aswmed the vast
and murderous powers it
had under LA - - etBeria during the
Stalin era Today it is the dominant
force in the Soviet union - "top
dog." as one expert on the Soviet
Union puts it. As such, it has
launched a series of Stalin-type
purges of the Soviet bureaucracy,
the military, and its own ranks. Mc
Yur hs nko had ream to believe he
was on the purge list and slated for
liquidation in a L,ubyanka cellar
ctat to r~ age and
dangerous process, one in
which he can be betrsyrd at any step.
Mr. Yurchenko chose Rome because
he know he would be abb to find
sanctuary at the Vatican. where it
would be relatively safe to make an
approach to the CIA.
What are the consequences of Mr.
Ytirchenko's defection?
Mr. Yurchenko carries with hi
not only an encyclopedic knowledge
of the identities of KGB agents and
moles in NATO intelligence and
counterintelligence services but
also up-to-date experience in its
operational methods.
(In the U.S., the FBI is continuing
its search for former CIA agent
Edward L Howard, who is being
sought as a result of information
reportedly supplied by Mr.Yur-
chenko. Howard has been charged
with selling secrets to the Soviets. A
second ex-intelligence officer also is
believed to be under investigation in
the wake of Mr Yurchenko's defec-
tion.]
Mr Yurchenko is far more impor-
tant than Igor Gouzenko, the Soviet
lieutenant in the code room of the
Soviet Embassy in Toronto whose
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201520010-4
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201520010-4
a
documented disclosures broke open
an atomic espionage ring in the
United States. Canada. and England
-or Vladimir Petrov, a Soviet diplo-
mat who defected in Australia.
The only comparable defection is
that of Gen. Walter G. Krivitsky,
head of Soviet intelligence in all of
Western Europe just prior to World
War U. Mr. Yurchenko can disrupt
KGB operations and disclose the full
extent of Soviet penetration of U.S..
British. French. Italian, and Latin
American intelligence services.
In England. these are hard times
for MI-S and MI-6, already suspect
because of past KGB infiltration
into their ranks. Both these agencies
have battened down their hatches in
expectation of the storm that Mr.
Yurchenko's disclosures will
unleash within the British govern-
ment. Tremors are also being felt at
the British foreign office, whose lax
security is common knowledge.
There are very quiet hints of a
royal commission, on the
style of those that followed
the defections of Mr. Gouzenko in
1945 and Mr. Petrov in 1954. But the
likelihood of such an investigation
seems small. since it would embar-
rass both Conservatives now in
office and the British Labor Party.
It is certain. however. that there
are rough days
ahead for MI-3
and Ml-6 as the
nature and extent
of KGB infiltra-
tion become
known to No. 10
Downing Street.
Both Britain's
intelligence and
counterintelli-
gence h ave
tended to take a
casual view of the
moles in their
midst - perhaps
because these
moles have for the
most part worn
old school ties.
Only after the
Philbys. Bur-
gesses. McLeans.
et al. have taken
refu,,e behind the
Iron Curtain has
MI.S and MI-6
indicated any con-
sternation.
Will Prime
Minister Marga-
ret Thatcher act with more vigor
than her predecessors, Though she
still seems to remain in the thrall of
Mr. Gorbachev's smile. she must
surely know that energetic action
will strengthen her hand against an
opposition in Parliament that contin-
ues to argue that we must not be
beastly to the Russians - whatever
their misdeeds.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201520010-4