SOVIET DEFECTOR CALLS ATTACK ON MEMOIR'S 'TERRORISTIC'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000301860008-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 15, 2012
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: August 1, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/15: CIA-RDP90-00965R000301860008-9
ARTICLE APPEAR ;D
ON PAGE
WASHINGTON TIMES
1 August 1985
Soviet defector calls attac
on memoirs terroristic'
By Bill Gertz
THE YWSHINOTON TIMES
A high-ranking Soviet defector
said yesterday that charges he fabri-
cated portions of his memoirs are
"terroristic journalism:'
Arkady Shevchenko, author of the
best-selling book "Breaking With
Moscow," admitted that "a few"
minor inaccuracies appeared in his
best-selling book but said they were
the result of poor memory.
Mr. Shevchenko a former Soviet
disarmament specialist, said epro-
videdu..s. intelligence with details
o secret Soviet "fall-back" positions
on arms control negotiations otiations in
Geneva. a discoveg by Soviet
counterintelligence officers that he
was working for the Americans led
o his defection, he said.
Mr. evc a to held a press con-
ference to respond to Edward Jay
steins article in the July 15 issue
o The New Republic, in which r.
stein accused r. S evc enko of
collaborating with the entralIntel-
ligence Agency in writing the .
The headline on The New Repub-
lic cover said "The Shevchenko
Fraud:'
"The CIA [did] not (help] me in
writing this r. evc en
said a CIA was "the last ce"
that would have provided help, he
said. The agency opposed revealing
details of Mr. Slievcchien oT sseespi-
ona a activities.
Mr. Shevchenko accused the arti-
cle's author of harboring the
"obsession" that all Soviet defectors
are "double agents" secretly work-
ing for Moscow.
Mr. Epstein's article claimed the
former Soviet official had embel-
lished certain episodes, which did
not appear in an earlier manuscript
turned down by a New York pub-
lisher. The article also pointed out
several alleged inaccuracies regard-
ing Mr. Shevchenko's driver's
license, the exact date of his defec-
tion and a meeting with a Soviet
secret police official.
Before defectin to the United
States in r. evc en o
served as an under secrete gen-
eral at the United Nations. For a
period of tree years he reeort y
worked as an agent for heCIA,
I in details of Soviet foreign
,_policy positions, specifically Soviet
arms control positions.
ions.
Responding to c arges his book is
a "fraud:' Mr. Shevchenko said,
"Then two presidents of the United
States are frauds." He said former
President Jimmy Carter and Pres-
ident Reagan knew about his activi-
ties, as well as "several national
security advisers."
Mr. Shevchenko said the manu-
script that was turned down by
Simon and Shuster in 1979 "was not
a book" but five chapters about 100
pages in length.
The book took a long time to write,
he said, because of "the very dull
Soviet style" of writing.
Mr. Shevchenko charged that Mr.
Epstein did not read "Breaking With
Moscow" because the book contains
no exact date of his defection. The
only date provided in public, he said,
appeared in Time magazine, which
incorrectly identified the day as
"Friday, April 6, 1978" Mr. Epstein
pointed out that April 6 that year was
a Saturday.
Mr. Shevchenko firmly defended
the accuracy of events portrayed in
the book. The few minor inaccura-
cies relate to dates, he said.
"There are only a few I mistakes I:'
Mr. Shevchenko said. "I'm amazed
that I didn't make more mistakes
than I already did."
Mr. Epstein said yesterday he
stood by the thesis of his article that
the Shevchenko book was "basically
a fraud."
"I think he's making these things
up:' Mr. Epstein said in a telephone
interview. He described the portions
of the book dealing with Mr. Shev-
chenko's espionage activities as "a
novel:' and said he will respond to
Mr. Shevchenko in detail in a
forthcoming article.
Mr. Epstein said former Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger did not
know anything about Mr. Shevchen-
ko's activities, but admitted that for-
mer Carter administration national
security adviser Zbigniew Bzrezin-
ski was not consulted for The New
Republic piece.
A New Republic spokesman said
the controversy will be addressed in
a forthcoming issue.
The book prpvides details of
Soviet foreign policy decisions,
including Middle East conflicts, and
an intimate profile of former Soviet
Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko,
now Soviet president.
He denied that the CIA had any-
thin L_ro_(To_-witri the oo ut
admitted the CIA eF lped him to
locate two translators or an earlier
manuscript.
-A CIA spokesman said earlier this
yeafit-w7 g en the book was published,
thai ndnot review the book. A CIA
statement two weeks a o, in
response tote stein artic a said
r. evc en o provided "invalu-
able" information.
Ashbel Green, Mr Shevchenko's
editor with Alfred A. Knopf Inc., yes-
terday said book sales have
increased since the Epstein article,
first appeared. Of 184,000 copies in
print, 180,000 have been sold, Mr.
Green said.
STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/15: CIA-RDP90-00965R000301860008-9