SHEVCHENKO DEFENDS MEMOIR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605430004-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 1, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: August 1, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/01 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605430004-3
ARTICLE A EARED
ON PAGE
Shevchenko
Defends
Memoir
Defector Assails Critics
And Says Book Is True
By David Remnick-
Washington Post Staff Writer
Soviet defector and former diplomat
Arkady Shevchenko yesterday denied
recent reports that he made up or em-
bellished episodes in his bestselling
memoir, "Breaking With Moscow."
Shevchenko said that he may have got-
ten certain minor details wrong, but
"the book is entirely true."
An article in The Washington Post
had reported that sources in both e
pu is ing and intelligence fields were
suspicious of evc en o s account.
The stor also quoted sources who
said that Shevchenko initialiv had e
from the CIAin writin the book and
tat a em is a certain episodes to
make them more "commercial." ev-
c en o, who defected in 1978, said
yesterday that the only help he got
was from his wife and his editors.
A lengthy article by Edward ay Ep-
stein in the July 15 edition of he New
Republic went much further-Man the
initial Post story, doubtin_g__SFe_v-
chenko's claim that while still an un-
dersecretary general at the United
Nations he worked as a spy for the
government. Epstein also wrote
that certain "cinematic details" in the
book "never happened."
"I always have had a great respect
for freedom of the press in the western
WASHINGTON POST
1 August 1985
world," Shevchenko said, "But it's
amazing ... the way that freedom is
'abused, and I am amazed by what
some people in the press can do. It's
what I call terroristic journalism."
Shevchenko said he was describing
the "phenomenon" of American jour-
nalism in general.
Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of
The New Republic, said yesterday.
"Somebody who has benefited so im-
mensely from the attention of the
American press should- probably be
more careful with his characteriza-
`tions of it."
Said Wieseltier, "I've heard noth-
ing that dissuades me from Ed Ep-
stein's view of ['Breaking With Mos-
owl"
Shevchenko had refused interview
.requests for the articles in The
Washington Post and The New Re-
public.
Yesterday's press conference was
,organized by Shevchenko and his ed-
itor at Knopf, Ashbel Green. With
Green sitting at his side at the Na-
tional Press Building, Shevchenko
said, "Initially I wanted to let [the ar-
ticles] go but I was convihced I
should answer these things."
Epstein, who has written exten-
sively on the assassination of o n F.
enn y and other Soviet de-
ectors., such as Yuri Nosenko,
charged that evc en o s work for
the LJA was "demonstrably icti-
uo " The Post article quoted
sources su portin evc enko's as-
sertion that he did in in fact work as
an informant for the CIA whde still a
viet dip omat; Epstein charged that
evShTko fabricated dates, conversations.anespionage
acctuvu es.
' ShevcTienko called Epstein's de=
tailed litany of alleged falsehoods "ri-
diculous."
"It seems he didn't read my book,"
Shevchenko said. "There were so
many people in the government and
in Congress who knew my story and
now someone .is saying there is no
story at all."
Shevchenko also accused the So-
viets of trying to undermine him.
"They are doing something to com-
.promise me," he said. "I have no
,doubt they are behind some of this.
Shevchenko did acknowledge mis-
takes in the dates of a dinner party
with a key KGB official in New York
and his first discussion of defection
with U.S. contacts. "In some places, I
was a little bit mistaken," he said.
"The human memory is not a perfect
instrument."
One of Shevchenko's harshest crit-
ics in The Washington Post article
was Simon & Schuster editor Mi-
chael Korda, who accused Shev-
chenko of trying to "juice up" certain
episodes in the final, published ver-
sion of the book. Shevchenko orig-
inally sold the manuscript to Simon &
Schuster. But his manuscript was re-
jected and he went to Knopf.
"The truth is, Michael Korda was
partly responsible that I was not suc-
cessful at Simon & Schuster," Shev-
chenko said. "He was, no help at all.
He was so busy that he never con-
tacted me for months at a time." .
Sources in both articles were sus-
picious that Shevchenko would be
able to, remember accurately conver-
sations that took place decades ago.
And yet he quotes them verbatim.
Shevchenko said he was told by ed-
itors at Knopf to use direct quotation
rather than paraphrase "to give the
book a little more life. I was advised
to put things in a conversational way
... I think it's pretty accurate."
Shevchenko said he had no inten-
tion of suing anyone. "I learned that
in the United States you should not
go to court unless it is life-threaten-
ing or there is no other way," he said.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/01 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605430004-3