WEST FREES FOUR, EAST RELEASES 25 IN BIG SPY SWAP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000301850011-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 25, 2012
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: June 12, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000301850011-6
IA
"I VoT ETPALD
12 June 1985
FEE ONLY
West frees four,
East releases 25
in big spy swap
By AARON EPSTEIN
Herald Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON ? In a dramatic
noontime exchange of prisoners on
a Berlin bridge linking East and
West, the United States Tuesday
gave up three men and a woman it
had indicted or convicted of espio-
nage in return for the release of 25
people imprisoned on spying
charges in East Germany and
Poland.
It was "the biggest spy ex-
change in the history of the United
States," said John K. Russell, a
Justice Department spokesman.
No U.S. citizens were involved.
Russell said that the 25 East bloc
prisoners, whose names were not
released. are East Germans or
Poles who had been "helpful to
American interests." Most of them
had been recruited to work for the
CIA. a source said.
Twenty-three of the 25 chose
freedom in the West while two
remained behind "out of concern
for personal business and the
welfare of family members." U.S.
officials said in Berlin. However,
the East German government
agreed that those two would not
be subject to further imprisonment
and could leave for the West
within two weeks if they wish,
the officials said.
In addition, family members
would be allowed to join the 25
released prisoners in the West. A
U.S. official in West Berlin said he
expected 15 to 20 family members
to depart soon.
The four individuals freed by the
United States were Marian Za-
charski, 31. a Polish intelligence
officer; Alfred Zehe. 45, a scientist
from Dresden, East Germany;
Alice Michelson, a 68-year-old
East German teacher: and Penyu
Baychev Kostadinov, 42, a former
Bulgarian trade counselor.
White House spokesman Laxly
Speakes said that President
Reagan approved the prisoner
exchange. The president pardoned
Zacharski, who had been sen-
tenced to a life term, and federal
judges reduced the sentences of
the other three to make the
exchange possible.
A U.S. official in Berlin said that
the fbur prisoners had been ex-
posed and "were no longer of
espionage value to the East. On the
other hand. the East's interest in
obtaining their return made it
possible for us to have 25 persons
and family members released."
The official said that discussions
with a representative of the East
German government raised the
possibility of the exchange and
prolonged negotiations ensued.
During the bargaining. the U.S.
government pressed for freedom
for such Soviet dissidents as
Andrei Sakharov and Anatoly
Shcharansky, but "we were told
that the Soviet Union would not
consider their release," the official
said.
The swap of spies took place
under cloudy skies on the Gli-
enecker Bridge. Representatives of
East and West arrived with their
prisoners aboard buses that were
driven to a white line on the
bridge that separates West Berlin
and East Germany. There the deal
was completed.
Several prisoner exchanges have
taken place on the same bridge
during the last 20 years. Perhaps
the most famous occurred in 1962,
when Francis Gary Powers, pilot
of a U-2 spy plane downed over
the Soviet Union in an embarrass-
ing incident during the Eisenhow-
er administration, was swapped
for Cot Rudolf Abel, a leading
Soviet atomic spy.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000301850011-6