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-RDP91-00587R000100720018-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 18, 2011
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: September 27, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/18: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100720018-5
ARTICLE APPEARED NEW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE 27 September 1985
Senior K. G.B. Man Said to Defect
And Give Spying Data to the West
By STEPHEN ENGELBERG
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.
SAWN to The $ Yart ThM
Described AS RWng Fipee
Administration officials and senior
intelligence sources described Mr.
Yurchenko as a rising figure in the
K.G.B.
An intelligence source said the detect
Sam 4. 1 iA cur defector, lions are expected to harm Soviet spy
Vitale Y . SO veers older a networks in Europe and elsewhere. He
also i am of ft said American intelligence analysts
Central Intelligence ASICcY as Soviet expect the Russians to begin withdraw-
Asia. It was not clear from the ac- ing large numbers of agents on the ae-
whether those involved were contract
employees or
cars.
The reported defection of Mr. Yur-
chenko is the latest in a series of such
episodes that hays rocked intelligence
mised.
The officials said that as a result of
Mr. Bokhan's information the United
States hat delayed its planed sale of
F-16 tighter jets to Greece. Officials
said the arrests last week in Athens of
agencies in both the East and West, in- Ion charges of spying for the Soviet
cluding the defection to the West this Union also arose after Mr. Bokhan was
summer of the K.G.B. station chief in questioned.
London and the defection to East Ger- In West Germany, the government of
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. Yurcbenko has been
taken to an mWhmao-sed or0_ca_tr0_nU_trw
Unit fates. where he is heirMOW
tioned by C.I.A. officials.
If his charges are borne out by fur-
ther investigation, thes- may coon=
the 1 e susnidans of some in;dli-
gence agents that the C.I.A. has been
co 0012
icans who were secretly working as
Chancellor Helmut Kohl has been
shaken by a series of high-level detect
tions.
Since the beginning of August, a sen-
ior West German counterintelligence
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, oftl-
d als say, was the defection in August
of Hats Joachim Tiedge, a top counter-
intelligonee' officer in charge of catch-
or the EAM German West German
for Interior Ministry
said that be left three days after a se-
curity check into his background had
been order
ed.
The spososman said that the suspi-
cions had been raised because he drank
heavily and led a disorderly life, not be-
cause be was thought to be art East
nine Litdsr. a C.I.A. snokssman. German agent.
said he would have no comment Qn any
defections or on tna dove
son
ble agents
had boon
age.
STAT
Kohl Secretary Vaobhes
Three weeks later, it was disclosed
that a secretary in Chancellor Kohl's
office had defected with her husband.
The secretary, Herta-Astrid Willner,
and her husband, Herbert Adolf Will-
nor, disappeared while on vacation in
Also this summer, Oleg A. Gordiyev-
sky, a K.G.B. official who officials say
had a Ioogn career as a double agent.
defected to the West from his post in
London. Several officials suggested
that be 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. Gordlyevsky.
He was very high up and ascend-
ing," said one intelligence source.
sew. Agents 'Fhagere(
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 thence 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 copoec-
tion with the summit meeting between
President Reagan and Mikhail S. Gor-
bachev, the Soviet leader, scheduled STAT
for Nov. 19-20 in Geneva. One Adminis-
tration official said that Mr. Reagan
had been briefed an the Yurchenko de-
fection and its implications.
Mr. Lauder the C.I.A.spokesman,
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/18: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100720018-5