SOVIET DISINFORMATION: ALLEGATIONS OF US MISDEEDS

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05612850
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2022
• Document Release Date: September 25, 2017
• Case Number: F-2016-02688
• Publication Date: March 28, 1986

Approved for Release: 2017/09/13 C05612850
(b)(3)
Central Intelligence Agency
DATE
sougce-7)
OCR 3
28 MAR
DOC NO (711-11 no02A Washington. D. C.20505
DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE
P&PD
MEMORANDUM FOR: Diqtribution List
(b)(3)
FROM:
le , �reign Subversion and Instability Center
Office of Global Issues
SUBJECT: Soviet Disinformation: Allegations of US
Misdeeds (b)(3)
With SOVA support, we prepared the attached report at the
request of the Secretary of State.
(b)(1)
The report
illustrates a number of recent campaigns which can readily be
attributed to Moscow.
Attachment:
Soviet Disinformation: Allegations
of US Misdeeds)
28 March 1986 (b)(3)
GI M 86-20081,
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Approved for Release: 2017/09/13 C05612850
SUBJECT: Soviet Disinformation: Allegations of US Misdeeds
(b)(3)
OGI/FSIC/SA/
Distribution:
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
4
1
1
3
1
1
1
4
Secretary of State
SA/DDCI
Executive Director
DDI
DDI Registry
DDI/PES
NIO/FDIA
CPAS/ISS
CPAS/CB
CPAS/CB (annotated)
D/oGI, po/oGI
oci/sxs/pc (b)(3)
SOVA/TWAD/FA
mo/pps
C/OGI/FSIC
OGI/FSIC/SA
(28 March 86)
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Approved for Release: 2017/09/13 C05612850
MEMORANDUM
Soviet Disinformation: Allegations of US Misdeeds
(b)(3)
1. Over the past two years we have witnessed continual
Soviet charges about the international behavior of the United
States that the Soviets know or have substantial reason to
believe are patently false. These charges, which range from
allegations of US involvement in assassinations of foreign
political leaders to charges that the United States is
responsible for major international outbreaks of disease, emerge
through a variety of channels. Some are the direct product of
their own media and are therefore easily identifiable as Soviet
initiatives. The Soviets, however, also use clandestine means--
for example, forgeries, rumor, and placement of disinformation in
the foreign press--that are more difficult to trace conclusively
to Moscow. Some examples of Soviet efforts to discredit the (bp)
United States are described below in several major themes.
2. US Involvement in Assassinations. Moscow often attempts
to implicate "?, United States when an international figure dies
violently. 1:))(3)-
o Immediately after Olof Palme was assassinated in
February, TASS reported that Palme had been under
surveillance by the CIA for many years. This implication
of US complicity in the murder was followed by a similar
report in Izvestiya and in Georgiy Arbatov's eulogy to
Palme. By suggesting that the pattern of Palme's murder
was similar to that of Indira Gandhi, the Soviet reports
resurfaced old charges of US complicity in the
assassination of Indira Gandhi and other political
leaders. US embassies in Spain, India, and Uruguay, as
well as Sweden, reporte')( -1plays in the local press of
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the Soviet reports.
o In the initial report of Palme's death on 1 March, the
TASS analyst also referred to the death last year of
Samantha Smith. Another TASS article on the same day
described an alleged FBI assessment that Smith was a
menace to national security. (b)(3)
GI M 86-20081
28 March 1986
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S ERET
o In another report, published on 2 November 1985, TASS
accused the CIA of organizing the assassination of
Grenadan Prime Minister Maurice Bishon- After which the
United States invaded the country. (b)(3-
3. US Terrorism. Recurring Soviet themes--linking
political assassinations, US aid to liberation movements, and CIA
"special operations"--atta(b)(3pe United States for making
terrorism a state policy.
o Recent attacks (TASS, 24 October 1985 and 7 March 1986)
charged the United States with:
-- conducting undeclared wars in Africa, Asia, and
Central America;
-- backing South African attacks against its neighbors;
-- seizing hostages; and
-- inciting national strife in India.
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o In an effort to counter US accusations of Libyan
involvement in terrorism, the Soviets claimed, in a
13 March 1986 edition of Sovetskaya Rossiya, that the
United States is a "factory of international terror,"
citing US Marine Corps actions in b r'--nada and mercenary
training in the United States. )(3Y
4. US Espionage Operations. The Soviets replay endlessly
themes of secret US intelligence operations intended to subvert
the populace of other countries and destabilize governments.
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o In January 1986 Radio Moscow charged that the CIA will be
using funds to recruit scientists, journalists,
missionary doctors, and university teachers to work in
developing countries as CIA agents. In mid-February,
elaborately fabricated packages were delivered to a
number of African newspaper offices. The packages listed
alleged CIA penetrations of media, and some contained
over 100 names of US officials, journalists of various
nationalities, and a few US university professors
allegedly linked to the CIA. This disinformation
operation surfaced in seven African countries and
implicated media in nine other countries. Some press
allegations of media associations with the CIA appeared
concurrently in countries as far afielbx3)the
Philippines and Dominican Republic.
o The Soviets have capitalized on Yurchenko's redefection,
most recently in the 11 March edition of Pravda, and the
scientist Alexandrov's disappearance, in a 27 January
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ET
Czech daily citing Izvestiya, to vilify the CIA f
criminal actions and violations of human rights.
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o The Peace Corps is the target of renewed Soviet charges
that it is a "hornet's nest of espionage, a center of
financial and political intrigues, and a center for drug
traffic." According to a 2 March 1986 TASS report, the
Peace Corps' duty is to conduct subversion against (b)(3)
governments not to the liking of the United States.
5. US Responsibility For Catastrophic Events. Whenever
possible, Moscow will exaggerate or, if necessary, fo;opate a
story to imply US culpability in a human tragedy.
In 1984 TASS and Moscow New Times reported that the
United States conducted a defoliation operation in Brazil
that resulted in the death of "whole tribes of Indians."
This repo-'( -ubsequently appeared throughout Africa and
3)
in India.(b)
o The notorious Soviet propagandist, Iona Andronov, writing
in the Soviet magazine Literaturnaya Gazeta in 1984,
proved "conclusively" that the CIA was responsible for a
1981 de---- fever epidemic in Cuba that killed over 100
people.(b10)
o Citing a report by President Daniel Ortega, Moscow New
Times in October 1985 suggested that an epidemic of
dengue fever and cotton disease in Nicaragua could have
been the ---ult of US use of chemical and biological
weapons.(b)p)
o Although the initial charge of US responsibility for
causing the AIDS epidemic was attributed to an Indian
newspaper, the real impetus for a recent worldwide anti-
US AIDS campaign was an article in Literaturnaya Gazeta
published in October 1985. Drawing on years-old stories
of biological weapons tests, the story focused on the
contemporary crisis and appeared in Kuwe44- Bahrain,
Finland, Sweden, Peru, and elsewhere. oppy-
o TASS, on 26 December 1985, presumably citing a Japanese
source, charged that the 248 US peace-keeping troops
killed in a plane crash before Christmas were returning
to the 11ted States from a secret "forward strike
base .
o On 30 January 1986 TASS cited the shuttle "Challenger"
disaster as a warning of the danger of pursuing the
Strategic Defense Initiative. (b)(3)
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6. US Diplomatic Meddling. Soviet disinformation campaigns
often allege US interference in the internal affairs of Third
World countries and often blame the United States for ocal
developments that are inimical to Soviet interests. (b)(3)
o An August 1985 TASS article, citing Izvestiya, charged
the 'Department of Dirty Tricks' of the CIA with giving
the Prime Minister of Liberia, Samuel Doe, $250,000 to
make him discontinue diplomatic relations with the Soviet
Union. The report accused the United States of exploit-
ing Liberia's domestic problems and blaming the Soviet
Union for them. This article appeared in a Finnish
Communist newspaper shortly after "- break in Soviet-
Liberian diplomatic relations. (b)(3)
o For years the Soviets have accused South Africa of
developing a biological "ethnic" weapon that would kill
only blacks. A recent Novosti Press Agency article,
citing a Senegalese source, reported that the United
States was also involved in "ethnic" weapons research
with the South Africans. Two Nigerian de41- newspapers
published the story in February 1986. (b)(3y
o Last November, in a brief Radio Moscow report (in Greek),
a Soviet observer reported that the partitioning of
Cyprus was caused by the United States and other Western
imperialists. In February 1986, Pravda asserted that US
and NATO atteropv3)to seize Cyprus increased noticeably in
recent weeks.�/�
o Citing unnamed sources, Pravda inferred on 24 February
that the anti-Marcos cou- --s prepared with the help of
US special services. (b)(3)
o In mid-December 1985, articles alleging US-Israeli
intentions to attack PLO bases appeared in Middle Eastern
and European newspapers. These articles were based on a
Soviet report c4D)(3)L to the Yemenis who then released it
to the media. j
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