GREVILLE WYNNE'S STORY - PART II

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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP75-00149R000600280004-5
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RIPPUB
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K
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8
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November 11, 2016
Document Release Date: 
January 20, 1999
Sequence Number: 
4
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Publication Date: 
September 13, 1964
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NSPR
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FOIAb3b ? . Sanitized - Approved For Release : LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH September 13, 1964 rim LEG PENKOVSKY 'lookgd 'terrible when. I saw. him. hrough the. spy-hole of his cell in he Lubyanka prison in Moscow.. ut.I could not fail to recognise im. He was almost the same age as me. Is birthday was on March 28, 1919' y birthday was on the 19th. We were ilmost the same height, the same build, he same age. He was a very alive per on, extremely intelligent on a variety of subjects. He had a sense of humour. He liked vodka, he liked wind, he liked spirits, but he would hardly drink at all in business hours. I never saw him drunk. He was always very much alert: He. had a military bearing and was pprobably an inch ' taller than me, about Sft. gin. He walked very quickly, was very keen on his health, and took a lot of exercise, He was always asking how he looked, and he was very upset because he- was slightly bald-he used to try all sorts of tonics which he couldn't get in Russia. He liked the ' company of. women. Penkovsky told me that he had been brought up under the Communist system, had become an active Communist party member, was recruited into the Red Army, and served as an artillery officer in the Japanese-Manchurian, Finnish and German wars. ' ~ He had become a colonel at the age of 30. His father had fought as an officer in the White Army during the Revolution. Penkovsky had married a general's daughter, and after his military career he became a full-time member of the State Security organisation and an intelligence officer of the reserve Army. The Russians went , to great lengths to deny this to me, and told me that if I mentioned this in court or at any other time later, they would make much trouble for me. Penkovsky had shown me and other people in the West official cards and documents identifying' him as a member of military intelligence. That is why he joined the Technical-Scientific Commit. tee. It was purely, a method of meeting Western delegations, keeping tabs on them, and picking Western brains. e told me his eyes were opened when he ent to Istanbul as assistant military atta4he in 1947. It was the first time he had;beeni out of Russia. After the war a lot bf Russians like him, particularly in H?w a ,Communist's eyes were opened to Western ways, how he debated "Shall stay?" and how his. Engl ish -friend found himself under Russian_ suspicion. CPYRGHT By GREVILLE WYNNE the Army, did not necessarily want capita en I left oscow in Ijecem -- , ism in an -American sense-what they 1960, with that first delegation, it ad wanted was a more liberal form of social- been agreed in principle that a Russ an ism, and a more reasonable attitude. delegation would pay a return visit to He was a member of the Communist England and visit my companies and fac- party. He said he did not want to give tories. There was delay, so I agreed with the impression that he was turning against my companies to go to Moscow . again to the Russian people, against his country. try to finalise the programme. Penkovsky But a lot of his friends, some of them in was there. to meet me. very high places, were feeling the same " Now Mr. Wynne," he said, " you way. After Stalin they expected changes have come because there is some delay to take place much more quickly, but the in the delegation, Well we have a dele- economy of the country was being drained gation, I have a delegation, and I am for soldiers and guns and military equip- coming to England." ment. '"I ' asked who the delegation nmmbers There was not the slightest doubt in were, and he gave me a list. "P,-ofessor my' mind that Penkovsky was genuine, , who is he? " I asked. about other things to believe that ,,eople and sensible way _ of lite, in a way, he was the top of an iceberg; there are lots like "Well Mr. Penkovsky, I am n6 trwiiiiii this 7 ? _ ...... ---I- A.-.1 ...L o is SO R iti:od' A PPi+ved For Release : CIA-RD 4- '""-" - ' "Ali, the Professor. He is in Moscow now. He looks after radar, and he is Sanitized, - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000600280004-5 IN LONDON Penkovsky was ?a keen party-goer e ppected. That it was an investiga $g' d legation' of specialists coming ju ll to d egation was not really what they country, and of the plans. for the future that he and his friends had dreamed of. So I agreed to Penkovsky's list, and I had to tell my companies th - +' , Scotember 13, 1961+ " He also is in Moscow at the moment. ;He is interested in computers," " But I am not representing any com- panies with computers," To cut a long' story short, there was only one man of the eight-he'had got who represented a ,firm than I had anything to do with. I told him, "I can't accept this dele- gation as they do not represent the interests and equipment of the companies I represent. You are expected to come to look at the equipmen.t which I am selling." Then Penkovsky said, "Please Mr. Wynne, I beg you, I cannot explain, but I must come to England, If you make trouble for me I cannot come. Maybe they. will send another delegation if you make trouble, but their I will not 'come." " I would like you to come," I said, "but what difference does it make? This is. business." And then he told me for the first 'time a little of his hopes and fears for his vl course i Knew what Penkovsky IN MOSCOW with Wynne (left) he met British businessmen really wanted to do in England: I accepted his useless delegation with my; eyes open, just 'so as to enable him to" come quickly to the West and make con tact with British and American Intelligence.. I had one advantage besides; I had by then had several years of experience of East European countries and their people and their way of life, and I had some notion of the anguish that many of them were suffering,. because I had seen it at first hand. So I was caught up with. Penkovsky simply because I was there. I happened to be the right person in the 91 right place at ? the right time. A I believe that most' British business en'' with my experience would have. done the same. Sanitized - Approvi j-ease : CIA-RDP75-00149R000600280004-5 CPYRGHT CPYRGHT LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPE September 13, 1961t Befer Lo>l~sdale #atf-don Airport and shortly rds =a I took Penkovsky. himself ? to my office n the way I had to stop at Harrods t It is worth adding, I think, in view o p ck up a parcel, and took Penkovsk some of the more irresponsible comment t with me. made later, without any basis of fact, tha As we went through the entrance h all this happened before the Portla d n sp . A st stood there and gaped. Behind him case, and before any of the British publi b scs and taxis unloaded customers. had heard of a fellow called Lonsdale. Th P ople pushed and jostled him aside. And first Western contact with Penkovsky wa h gaped at the dresses and goods in the made early in 1960 ; I m self b y egan con versations with Penkovsky in. December 1860 ; the-Portland trial was not unti p .rely to secure an exchange #or'th re ease of Lonsdale entirely with ~u s re, and the people choosing and buying, t 4c fitted carpets, the lighting, the general a mosphere. All he could repeat, again and a in, was " Oh my people, my, poor ssian people." Russian delegates to Britain, whatever t eir status, are allowed onl; #2 5s. a day f r their hotel expenses (including all als) and 10s;' a day pocket money. On the whole they can afford nothing better than boarding houses or cheap hotels in, London, and they cannot afford to. take taxis, go to theatres, or even go shopping to any extent, This is precisely the result that the Russian authorities hope for. I was determined to. give Penkovsky's delegation something better than this, and :so,I arranged that they should have reason- able accommodation at the Mount . Royal Hotel near Marble Arch, and my com- panies would, pay the difference. I explained. that. for meals in the hotel all they, had . to do was sign the bill. The delegation arrived on 'a Saturday: On the Monday morning, when I arrived to take them to the' North, the 'hotel manager took me aside;. the 'delegates had been refusing breakfast,.. I found them all ` ? in one room huddled "round -a suitcase: filled with tinned food, eating sardines out of a tin; Signing. the : bill is almost unknown in Russia and they- had feared extra expense. When. I. gently explained that all meals were paid. for, they . ate, everything in.sigh t. We set off for the North by car, and our first stop was Sheffield. None of the dele gates had ever been to the West before,` and none but Penkovsky had seen an English shop. On the outskirts of Sheffield we passed a Woolworth's,. and I ordered the cars to stop. The Russians could not contain themselves; they ran from one, counter to another-literally .ran-picking.; up cheap trinkets, toothbrushes, combs,` plastic pens, pencil sharpeners, rulers'; photograph frames-anything and every- thing,'as long as their money lasted. The delegation's tour was a great suc-'5 cess. My companies laid on luncheons, speech-making, flags flying, the Red flag and the British flag, the white table- . cloths, the factories, and presents all rc ur,r: =And . all this for nothi ag .11y, `all; to get Penkovsky into Britain. wanted to do everything, and investigate everything. He wanted to visit museums, art galleries, cinemas and theatres, and he wanted to see the interesting buildings and go into department stores. He was not particularly interested in the factories, he wanted to get that over and done with and have his serious discussions with. " important " people. But he would keep his amusements until the evenings. Then he liked dancing, and he enjoyed bars and nightclubs. Later, when we'were in Paris, we went to cabarets at the Lido and Moulin Rouge. It was the first time he had ever seen such spectacular shows, with the. chorus girls in line: they don't have that in Moscow. " Why can't the Russians have this too 1 " he said. "It is a very live and happy art,* and not so serious as the ballet." In England, of course, he had to he extremely careful;. after all he was the leader of the delegation. But in the hotels I had arranged for delegates to h ve double rooms,, and Penkovsky a' sib le ro 4m. This allowed him to come and o as to pleased. . ost of his social activities in Lond too place on his second visit,-When he Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP7.5-00149R000600280004-5 exhibition in July, 1961. I went on holiday in Switzerland In August, and then on to Moscow for the LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH Scptertber 13, 1961+ CPYRGHT ~aris to as ce me revery im ieTcr I thought he should st i the est. Within four months he had visited e West three times. He had seen for ms elf the ordinary people in England d France, the number of cars on the eets, the rows of individual houses ith their own gardens, how the depart- eat stores were crammed with goods. He as overwhelmed by it and filled with Bret for the plight of his own people. He would say, "Shall I stay? Shall I ay ? " I would always answer, " I shall t influence you ; it's entirely up to you." I took him to the. airport for his parture for Moscow. On the way heavy g descended; few other people got rough to Orly; there was no flying, and e sat together for four hours in the most deserted airport.. All the time he as asking, " Shall I stay ? " Eventually the fog lifted, and I said od-bye to him at the barrier, He began t '. go through, then came back again and id, " I will stay." I.said?" Well, Alex. it i entirely up to you." I knew that he uld stay if he wanted ' to.. But he cided to go back. "I can help' better I go back,'' he said. I have much rk to do.", He was not happy going ck, but he was' brave. IIck to ? Help I French exhibition being held there. I nkovsky was feeling very unhappy. stayed only four days, but saw Penkovsky,l pparently he was looking ill, and his who warned me that there was a possibility of his going to Paris in September for the Russian exhibition. I suggested that I should meet him at Le Bourget Airport. In the event Penkovsky did not arrive until towards the end of the second week. ~I had had to go to Le Bourget some 16 times-and had to make myself incon- spicuous each time I went. It was a nerve-wracking wait. . I had jotted down the timetable of the aircraft arrivals in a small engagement " Iwish I had stayed in France," he told me. " At the next opportuslt^ .J ve of going to the West, I shall stay there there is no question about it." A proposed visit to the World Fair at Seattle and to a planned Soviet trade .fair in Cyprus had been put off. But he had been told by Western intelligence how he could, if he wished, leave the Soviet Union, Now I brought with me a letter which cheered him enormously, gave him a boost in morale and enabled him to re- gain confidence. The, letter showed, him that his friends outside Russia had not forgotten him. On the second day of my visit, I had an-official meeting with the State Scienti- fic 'Committee, and on the evening of the third day Penkovsky and I met. He was very reluctant to be seen with me more than once, and pointed out that we had better not go to the theatre, and that I had better, not meet his wife. He thought it best that we should just have an official meeting and then part-but that he would rendezvous with me at the restaurant of the Peking Hotel because we had never been there together before. We never went to the same restaurant twice. I happened to get to the Peking with some few minutes to spare, and I walked up and down on the other side of the street, I saw some characters standing around, but they did not seem to pay too. much attention to me for the moment. I new, however, that it is. not advisa le fo a foreigner to loiter too long in o e p ition in the streets of Moscow. Then _Penkovsky came' along with , its brief cask-under his arm, -and .1 Gros ed 1 s close friend, I thought that it would a good thing if I went over to Moscow t cheer him up and to see if I could do a ything to help. Iliad no real reason for going, so I had t make one up. With considerable pub- 1 ity it was announced. that I wished to t e two huge exhibition vehicles across t e Soviet Union, I wrote to the Scientific. mmittce and the 'other organisations, I sent them pictures and in July I_ a rived once again in Moscow on the ' Belgrade a few days, after Penkovsky p etext of discussing this programme with arrived in Paris I missed this diary. It wash t e authorities. produced again 18. months later-during' Penkovsky met me again at the airport. interrogation at Lubyanka. I Tad not seenbim for nearly a year, and I In Paris Penkovsky used to attend the s shocked by the change. He was Embassy or the exhibition during the day ry white and not -his, normal self, and go to some official dinners at the a d he was very worried. He said that Embassy; but whenever he got away I wasl h had been working hard, andhe always waiting for him in a car at a pre-1 s in a nervous state. He thought he arranged rendezvous, and in Paris you can easily lose yourself. So we had quite a lot tourist t_h;aigs, and he seemed to enjoy tche very `much. But he said he p of rre . Englano t a wife of an attache at the Brit ah easy whom he knew, was also' being, CPY%GHT anitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000600280004-5 LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH Sep-L-cmbcr 13, 1964 -0 0 Ci ? away' quick e p ace a ee the road and went up to him. Instead of searched. Later, after my arrest. I wa hi s- greeting me, however, he just put hand . to his nose, lowered his head, and went straight into the doorway of the restaurant. - I followed him into the lobby. He - looked into the restaurant, walked about, and as he was- passing me he said some- thing that sounded like, " Follow me behind," - I gathered that there was some- thing wrong, and I took the hint: Penkovsky went out.into the . street and walked for, a few hundred yards to where there; was- a gap in the buildings leading to - a tenement area of wooden.. houses. no went in there, and as I was coming by he spoke to me: - Grev, j, quick l" . I went into the alleyway and he said, "You must go. away now, quick. I might see you at the airport tomorrow but you are being followed, Go!". And he went out another way. - As I came out of the alley I saw. two men standing there. And of . course. later kt~rr Lubyahka I saw photographs;' they had Iliad cameras. - n the Room When I got back to the Ukraine Hotel -early, of course, as I had had no dinner -I went' up to my room and asked the female " gaoler who keeps 'all the keys in her drawer : " Key? " No key-administration," she said. I tried the. door but could not open it, and the woman came after me and said, Please, administration have key - please." Now downstairs-17 floors down- nobody ever has a key, and I got sus- picious. Still, I went down to the admini- stration and waited 10. or 15 minutes, and nobody knew anything about my key. So I went up again and the woman greeted *2e. "I find your key."- - I decided to' -check and see whether my room had been searched, I had brought with me a tin of Harpic disinfect= ant with an empty film canister concealed newspalicrs I had bought on the plane an my blue mackintosh with the label turne inside out. My suits, my shoes, my soar and washing powder were all laid out of the bed-all in the picture. There was n question about them all being mine. An of course a close-up of the Harpic ti with the canister pulled out. I decided to get out quickly. I wa booked on a mid-morning flight to Lon- don, but I was down at the airport at six a.m. and took the first plane out, an earl morning flight to. Copenhagen. Penkovsky arrived at the airport about ing his security card, He was still, it must be remembered, an important official But he was obviously taking a great ris coming to the airport in his desire t get me out as quickly as possible. We -sal good-bye. - Plea'se tell . my friends I'm - ver unhappy," he said. Please, I must, coin away as soon as possible. I. will try an get some more material for you, but it i now very dangerous for me and I ?mus The next time I saw Penkovsky wa through the spy-hole of his celli Lubyanka prison. - - ~.71C GRADUALLY during my interroga Lion they began to feed me with mor and more information which they ha gleaned from Penkovsky, or from thei own sources: Penkovsky and me outsid the Peking Hotel; photographs of a pack age; photographs of Penkovsky and m with a sweet packet; Penkovsky returnin to me a suitcase of mine outside, the Ukraine Hotel. - So I said, " Well of course I have give Penkovsky presents. If you look at m luggage now, it is full up with present. = have shampoo, I have records, cigarett lighters, ball pens-'I have a case-full They are for everybody, not only for th Russians who can't buy them but fo other people." - " So you plead guilty to giving ?Pen k vsky packages? " "But I didn't say packages, I sal resents." "Well, maybe you didn't know wha was in the packages." in a recess. I went into the bathroom- it was still there. I looked around, and it seemed that everything was in order. But then I looked at my clothes. I ~;. fo d my shirts in an odd way-I unbutton t . a front and turn the collars inwards to k iep the dint from them. But my shirts just one, but.all of them. CPYRGHT And for the moment they aee +Q~ =tss= mod. This was all that I agreed to, that.I gave Penkovsky presents. It could be interpreted as bribery to Penkovsky, and I thought this might satisfy them. For the next five weeks or so the inter-`, rogation centred on this. Interrogation would take place at 10 o'clock in the morning for two or three hours, and then, back to the cell; and then in the afternoon for three or four hours. Very gentle, very business-like. - "Now Mr. Wynne, do not be,stupid, you must tell because we know everything. You have admitted to giving Penkovsky' presents, and now I want you to listen to -just this little piece." And they would produce a tape-recorder and there would be Penkovsky's voice, and mine. There was sufficient to tell me they had been listening to conversations. There was one in the Metropole Hotel room in Moscow, one in a restaurant in Budapest. And they said, "We know that you have very friendly relations with Penkov- sky. What is this matter you speak of ?-- You are friends. You were friends in'; London and in Paris. What is this ? " In the conversation I could be heard saying, '.'I wish you well, Alex," and "I have a letter from them, for you " and Penkov- sky's voice-" Yes, in the letter they say very good things." They said it was against Soviet law to smuggle in a letter. It meant I was a spy. I cannot -really complain o- inhum .period ' They were stern, reasonably polite, food was moderate. For example they gave me milk each day, they gave me tea and occasionally an extra cup of ,tea at, lunch time. They did not -shave my hair, and I was given my civilian clothes. " You see,"- they said, " we only took your clothes away because we wanted to see that you' weren't carrying anything bad in them or anything of that sort, and we wanted - to make sure that you weren't going to injure, yourself. You might be. in a nervous state and try to be foolish. Of course we don't treat prisoners badly these days, we are cultured people." Having been there about a month ;.-r, had a beard. I said, fingering my stubble, "You talk about Russian cul- ture. Is- this Russian culture? " "Oh, but please you can shave, But I have an electric razor in- my ca Sanitised - Approved For, Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000600280004-5 CPYRGHT Apart from the barber I never saw any, othei> jrisoners. Nor was I allowed access t9 `anyone from the British Embassy, (hough I repeatedly asked. to see some- body. The Best Suit spec k- i1r ut t ressy reaction L oa if a as e a 77 27, September 13, 19611 .formed guards were to be seen ii} the also all personal articles and cigarettes. rather shabby civilian clothes. I can only 1 had brought. As a "result I was pretty ,prison, and even the othcer wno was in I had no woollen clothes, and they assume that this was done to put my wife at ease. 'We' were allowed to embrace. The conversation we had was about Andrew, the house, our friends, and we 'didn't discuss much else. She asked me about the food and I said, " Well it's not quite like home. . . . " because at this ,.period it was a reasonable prison diet, .meat and fish occasionally, and at least I could eat most of it. They even gave jme light-coloured bread. . She brought a case of things with her,' some woollen clothes, fur-lined boots, pullovers, and she even brought a bottle of whisky, cigarettes, things like that. The Russians joked with her about the whisky, and she was asked to take this back. But I was given a carton of cig- arettes and the photographs which she .had left, and a letter, from Andrew, and some books. For four or five days after Sheila had gone, they more or less left me alone. But then I was brought in for interroga- tion again. At this interrogation _there This was the only newspaper I had; want to look alter your tnzngs.- I cnose mere, Lily ILeuLa1LdLl.L-cU1VlICL, auu Lllv warm. I had.a long pair of cotton pants to me and said, "Put this on." They On this occasion I stood at the table boots. When I went out to walk they, LULU llle, I VU aL. wuab LV ?"" ~?~ pUGKeLS 1V1 CL ci tL,LL., all. r"A...a. other people away from the prison." shouted, "You are not here now to enjoy ,View of the Sky I was taken to the main administrative yourself I This is now serious. . . block. We stopped 'outside a, door, and "Now you have. had time to think I `had one hour's exercise a day on, theLL` an interpreter came out. He said, " Mr. about things, we will start with the roof of the Lubyanka, from which I could.. Wynne, when you o into this room you serious business of your spying activities. el nothing, only the sky. There was a will be very. pleased in what you see. But And anything that has gone on before-we tower, two armed guards who were in if you speak badly about anything the are regarding as complete and utter lies. little, boxes, and the little area of stone on meeting will be over.' Remember that.". I. But we ;will start from the beginning. We the roof where I walked measured 12 feet did not know what he meant. have plenty of time- and you must stay by 12, with sheet metal walls and barbed' Hdopened the door, I walked into,tbe here in real prison conditions until you wire on top about 14 feet high.,, . roo and there was my wife Sheila. And decide to tell us the truth." Occasionally I could hear. other' there too ' was the lieutenant colonel They said they would start with my prisoners walking and chatting. Once I- Sh la had also been told by them not to'. first visit to Eastern Europe, whic ! s to had a cigarette thrown over to me. If you wanted a cigarette you just knocked once d td in 1955. They had the date, yon the wall, and if the fellow next door had the hotel at which I stayed, and theheyhad got them and the .soldiers were not wanted me to start relating whom I hadlooking, he would throw one over. Jf.y met and why I visited the country, Easter ~Se caught you got an extra, punish ;tent. why I suddenly started to go to Eastern I took the risk Europe. Who sent me? ,and;,threw notes over. I simply said that my mind would not go back as far as that, and if they knew at which hotel I was staying, they must have known the enterprises I had visited and the business I had done; that -I was 'simply a business man,' and, as far as 'they were concerned I had nothin ;Ali "ttttL..-T Appreved-For .. R-61-ease- !CPYRGHT Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149ROO0600280004-5 ybu. are being LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH September 13, 1964 Then, about two days latef; they f ollowed --_~ ought me up from my cell, thdy 2.1 me into another room. There were alto- in the' morning and once in the evening. I. could shave only when I went to the bath- room every 1.0 or 12 days. The barber, had electric clippers, with the result that4 you never had a clean shave. The hair. they let grow ; now it is clear to me that they,; had in mind my appearance in a possible, public trial. By now the food was pretty grin.1 During this three weeks they gave me a very bad diet indeed. I had one and a half lumps of sugar in the morning, four inches of black bread, about eight ounces, ghastly..' bread which was all moist and terribly indigestible. I had terrible gruel made:,; from coarse grain and water, the Russian. prison porridge, and weak tea, very weak ?s time cleaning and polishing; because it NEXT ARTICLE: HOwTkpy The guard couldn't 'look everywhere at. preter.. once, and occasionally while we were. And sitting on a chair was Penkovsky. being led the guard would be distracted. I` This was what they call the show-down-. Bad Died; It was very nearly a starvation diet. In= those three weeks I must have lost a lot.,: of weight, and they were making me as., uncomfortable as they possibly could. . I thought: to hell with them. If this''_" is their attitude I shall adopt a bloody attitude as well. Because this was the only attitude it, wasn't going to help me or anybody. Eventually they started ques- tioning me, all over the same old things. _aaain.,,We did not get very far_be_- I just said I had nothing to tell them written? " s I said, "I haven't written any notes and the guard, handed over all the papers.; that I had been fiddling about with, draw- ing my kitchen and several motor-cars; T had just amused myself on it. They didn't like it at all, and said if I persisted in this During, all this time, of course, I was , . not allowed communication with my wife; no letters; no books. Nothing to read, 7" nothing to do at all except scribble on:. the paper I was left. At the end of three' weeks I was again brought up for interro:.' gation. And there again were' the general, the colonel and the interpreter. . " Well, you've had time to think about things. Where are the notes you have Approved EQr - ?1QAA& -,-CIA-RDP75-OO149R0O.O6O028OOO4-5 zed Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000600280004-5 LONDON SUNDAY TELEG2 PH September 13, 1964 CPYRGHT Moscow's Lubyanka prison, scene: of the duel between Wynne and ved -Fer-Release C+A-RDP175=09149R00960028?fl04-