SOVIET DIPLOMAT WITH KGB TIES DEFECTS TO U.S.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302440009-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: September 27, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/01: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302440009-3
ARTICLE R
ON PAGE Z
WASHINGTON POST
27 September 1985
Soviet Diplomat
With.I!GB Ties
.Defects to U.S.
By John M. Gashko
Wahinem Pat Staff Writer
A Soviet diplomat who reportedly
was a senior officer of the KGB in-
telligence service has defected to
the United States after disappear-
ing while on a trip to Rome last
month, U.S. intelligence and diplo-
matic sources said yesterday.
The sources confirmed reports
that Vitaly Dzhurtchenko, who held
the rank of counselor with, the So-
viet Foreign Ministry, has been co-
operating with the Central Intellii-
gence Agency since shortly after
his disappearance Aug. 1.
The sources also said he is un-
derstood to have been a KGB offi-
cial or at least familiar with KGB
operations in such areas as Western
Europe and Latin America. The
sources were unable to say where
Dzhurtchenko is.
They also declined to speculate
about what effects his potential in-
formation might have on Soviet in-
telligence activities, and they pro-
,fessed no knowledge of speculation
that his disappearance might have
triggered the recent rash of other
defections between East and West.
Dzhurtchenko, who went to
Rome in late July, vanished after os-
tensibly going to see Vatican mu-
seums. His disappearance went
largely unnoticed in this country.
I Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/01: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302440009-3