SOVIET PRESS TELLS OF SPIES, ALL AMERICAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000606540013-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: August 23, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-0
ARTICLE APPEARED NEW YORK TIMES
ON rA4E/` 23 August 1984
Soviet Press
Tells of Spie
advisory was issued after a dozen inci- were the most prominent practitioners
"
al espionage
ts in which Americans were either
termed "le
f what h
d
,
g
en
e
o
detained or searched- usually when followed by correspondents. tourists.
S t they tried to visit Jewish drssiaents.
But much of the dispute was about
American assertions that a Marine
consulate guard was beaten and de-
All American tained by the police in the middle of the
? night. The Russians said he had been
drunk and disorderly.
By SERGE SCI{MEMANN The television series, called "Tars Is
Sped- w rbe New Yrnt Timm Authorized to State ...," after the for-
mule that precedes high-level an-
MOSCOW, Aug. 22 = Suddenly. the nouncements, drew what was probably
Soviet press was full
n
audiences in .11
t
i
i
g
ew
n
f
arges
v
one o
t
h
e
l
is
spies. No sooner had televis
io
ion con-.
c d aswid watt
rt series
pititng a agzrnst
e~IrA~ ;
fhan the news paperCwLei
In WIM a
s to of a Os.
platform. i F_ --.5 `W .,...b. r,......-r....- -W In the provinces, the message seems
rem agents to, stone.
U.S. Warns Tourists to?have taken hold. Two American con
nystencal.
The polemics heated further later
over President Reagan's inadvertently
taped quip about bombing and outlaw-
ing Russia. An official Government
statement called it "unprecedentedly
hostile," dangerous and worse, and the
press picked up the theme with a
chorus of indignation that spilled over
rage, beyond the poor state of Soviet- I the series was broadcast when the
American relations and the periodic-, Olympic Games in Los Angeles would
Soviet practice of reminding citizens of have been televised if Soviet athletes
the dangers of dealing with foreigners. , had participated. Instead, viewers got
Moskovskaya Pravda, the party a show that underscored the excuse
newspaper for the Moscow area, said given for not going to Los Angeles -
this month: the dangers that athletes would pur-
"It seems that never before has the portedry faced there.
squall of lies and slander, of ideological The day after the television series
diversions and filthy political provoca- ended, three newspapers picked up the
tions against socialist countries, espionage theme. The trade-union
against the U.S.S.R., been so fierce and
1 daily Trud described how Louis
-If was not c ear what prompted the
attention the press was giving to espio-
In a counterpoint to the Soviet The newspaper Sovetskaya Rossiya stepped to chat with a peasant who
charges, the State Department re- carried a documentary-style article on thought he could provoke a rich guffaw
dently issued an unusual travel advi- bow the united states gathers intelli- with the line, "I know, you are Ameri-
spry warning tourists of an increase in gence in the Soviet Union. The author, can correspondents."
harassment of Americans in F. The Soviet Union countered b F. Sergeyev, said the State Depart- f its smile vanished when he learned
grad. by ment gathered 40 to 60 percent of its in- be was right.
charging that the Government was fprmation from the "personal observa-
trying to frighten American tourists lions of its diplomat-spies, accompa-
away. nied, as a rule, by close reading of the
Iressr,
the Soviet Union. The usual lines of
shoppers vanished by 8 P.M., when it-
went on the air.
The series ended with an American
agent, caught in the act, pleading, "Let
me go, I am an American diplomat."
official delegations, businessmen
"and, finally, American specialists,
graduate students, students and sail-
ors."
In short, Mr. Sergeyev said, virtually
every American visitor is suspect. But
like the other authors he assured his
readers that none of the.spies go unde-
tected.
"All efforts to snoop on us through
the keyhole have been broken up, as un-
doubtedly all future efforts will be," he
said.
.The purpose seemed not so much to
assure readers as to put them on notice
that the K.G.B. was watching the
movements of foreigners and that Rus-
sians had been cautioned to stay clear
of them.
A Joke Loses Its Humor
such warnings are a periodic fixture
in the press, though the current cam-
paign seemed more forceful than those
of the past. Given the Russians' inher-
ent suspiciousness of foreigners, the
periodic reminders seem almost re-
dundant.
.Among sophisticated Muscovites, the
campaign seemed to have relatively
little impact except as a reminder of
the dangers inherent in meeting with
- -` V ---` - foreigners.
was said to have tried to reactivate a Byelorussian who had been recruited ?A woman who accepted a ride from
abroad by the Central Intelligence an American correspondent in his car
Agency but repented on returning to treated the warnings as a joke.
the Soviet Union. "Since you are a correspondent," she
The article was accompanied by a said, "I cannot tell you what kind of
collage of photographs showing spy work my husband does, but why don't
ff
e an
f
f
y-
co
e
or a cup o
equipment purportedly concealed in a you come up
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000606540013-8