SENIOR K.G.B. MAN SAID TO DEFECT AND GIVE SPYING DATA TO THE WEST

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201840043-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 21, 2012
• Sequence Number: 43
• Publication Date: September 27, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R00020 18840043-3
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ARTICLE APPEAREDA
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WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 - A senior
member of the K.G.B. has defected and
is providing information to the West
about Soviet espionage operations in
Europe and the United States, Reagan
Administration officials said today.
NEW YORK TIMES
27 September 1985
Senior X. G.B. Man Said to Defect
And Give SpyingData to the West
`By STEP]RENIF:NG IIBEAG+r '.
qnma rthe defector,
Vitale Yurchenko, 50 years old. had
also identified several emnlavees of we
Central Intelligence Agency as Soviet
agents. It was not clear from fie. aL
counts of the American officials_
whether those involved were contract
employees or C.I.A. o -
The reported defection of Mr. Yur-
chenko is the latest in a series of such
episodes that hays rocked intelljgmce
agencies in both the East and West, in-
cluding the defection to the West this
summer of the K.G.B. station chief in
London and the defection to East Ger-
many of the chief West German spy-
catcher.
In another of these developments, of-
ficials confirmed today that Sergei
Bokhan, the deputy director of Soviet
military intelligence in Athens, had de-
fected to the West in May and has pro-
vided information about the penetra-
tion of the Greek Government by Soviet
agents.
The officials, who asked not be iden-
tified said Mr. Yurchenko has been
taken to an undisclosed location in the
United tates, where he is being ans.
tioned by C.I.A. officials.
If his charges are borne out by fur-
ther investigation, they may confirm
the longtrme suspicions of some intelli-
gence agents that the C.I.A. has been
compromimd by one or more
Anmr-
icans who were secretly working as
Soviet ts.
George Lauder, a C.I.A. spokesman6
said he would have no comment on
any
dfec?ions or on sunnesrroos that dou-
ble agents-had been discovered in the
agency.
Described as Rising Figure
Administration officials and senior
intelligence sources described Mr.
Yurchenko as a rising figure in the
K.G.B.
An intelligence source said the defec-
tions are expected to harm Soviet spy
networks in Europe and elsewhere. He
said American intelligence analysts
expect the Russians to begin withdraw.
ing large numbers of agents on the as-
sumption they have been compro-
mised.
The officials said that as a result of
Mr. Bokhan's information the United'
States has delayed its phoned sale of
F-16 fighter jets to Greece. Officials
said the arrests last week in Athens of
three men in the Greek armed forces
on charges of spying for the Soviet
Union also arose after Mr. Bokhan was
questioned.
In West Germany, the government of
Chancellor Helmut Kohl has been
shaken by a series of high-level defec-
tions.
Since the beginning of August, a sen-
ior West German camterinteiligence
officer, two secretaries and an army
messenger have vanished from West
Germany; all are believed to be in East
Berlin. Each is suspected of having
been a spy for the Eastern bloc for a
number of years.
One of the most serious of these, offi-
cials say, was the defection in August
of Ham Joachim Tiedge, a top counter-
intelligence' officer in charge of catch-
ing East German spies. A spokesman
for the West German Interior Ministry
said that. be left three days after a se-
curity check into his background had
been ordete&
The spokesman said that the suspi-
cion had been raised because he drank
heavily and led a disorderly life, not be-
cause he was thought to be an East
German agent.
Kohl Secretary Vanishes
Three weeks later, it was disclosed
that a secretary in Chancellor Kohl's
office had defected with her husband.
The secretary, Herta-Astrid Wiliner,
and her husband, Herbert Adolf Will-
nnerp, disappeared while on vacation in
Also this summer, Oleg A. Gordiyev-
sky, a K.G.B. official who officials say
had a 101W career as a double agent.
defected to the estW from his post in
London. Several officials suggested
that he had ended a profitable career in
the service of the west out of fears that
be was about to be caught.
Officials said that Mr. Yurchenko,
who had been stationed in Italy, was a
more senior member of the Soviet
K.G.B. than Mr. Gordiyevsky.
"He was very high up and ascend-
Sew . Agra s 'Fbtgered'
Several officials speculated that Mr.
Yurchenko's defection had..prompted
the defections of the agents in West
Germany. Another senior intelligence
source cautioned that the recent spate
of espionage episodes may be coinci-
dental, rather than directly connected.
Concerning the latest reported defec-
tor, the intelligence source said: 'He
has fingered a number of Soviet agents
around the world. Some of them have
already returned to' the Soviet
Union.Others will probably be going on
home leave soon."
He added that American analysts be-
lieve the defections have caused confu-
sion in the Russians' intelligence plan-
ning. "They have no idea how much
has been given away," be said. "They
can't be sure who he has fingered. It
has got to be causing real problems for
them."
It is not clear whether the series of
espionage revelations has any copnec-
tion with the summit meeting between
President Reagan and Mikhail S. Gor-
bachev,. the Soviet leader, scheduled
for Nov. 19-20 in Geneva. One Adminis-
tration official said that Mr. Reagan
had been briefed on the Yurchenko'de-
fection and its implications.
Mr. Lauder, the C.I.A. spokesman,
saidat the agency
tramuonall aces
not comment on detections
mid that he
TIC-TfTr-TTT Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000201840 043-3