'63 WAS A BAD YEAR FOR SOVIET SPIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000200340003-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 23, 1999
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: January 14, 1964
• Content Type: NSPR

NEW YORK JAN 14 1964
JOURNAL J : ! l+ ed - Approved or Release
i probably a double agent, talked to
1 American and British intelligence ex-
perts and, when finally arrested,
And the star of that show was a reserve Russian
colonel named Oleg V. Penkovsky, who unfortunately
paid for that dubious honor with his life.' Penkovsky,
STATINTL
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CPYRGHT
By WARREN ROGERS any a spy, counterspy an oub a-spy ran ior
YIUASHINGTON:-All in all, the hit program on the
-espionage circuit during the year just past was
"Sing Along With Ivan Ivanovich."
sang to their Russian counterparts in
Moscow's bleak Lubyanka Prison.
The upshot was a rash of arrests,,
exposures, and defections among es-
pionage agents in many countries, in-
eluding the United States. It is diffi-
;. cult to pinpoint precisely which
among these are attributable to Pen-
kovsky. Those who know are in a pro-
fession which makes a fetish of dis-
diplomat, was unmasked as "the third man" in the
Burgess-Maclean spy case. He promptly scooted into
asylum in Russia. Anatoly Dolnytsin, billed as a Soviet
".master spy," fled to London, where U.S. and British
agents eagerly interrogated him.
affair. They called home many of their military at-
taches, whose work is frankly to gather intelligence.
Some returned to their posts but others,, apparently
compromised by Penkovsky and Dolnytsin, shifted to
other jobs. Reports are that the entire Soviet spy ap-
paratus was revamped throughout the world.
In Russia itself, the ax fell on Soviet scientific and
military officials who had been associated with Pen-
kovsky. They found themselves walking a beat on ;
the steppes as a result of charges that they talked too :
ircely to Penkovsky and failed to figure out he was
passing along all they told him to the Allies.
It is a strong speculation that Ivan-Asen Khristov
Georgiev might be alive today if they had not caught
Penkovsky. Georgiev, dapper 56, confessed to Bulgar-
ia's Supreme Court on Dec. 26 that he voluntarily spied
for the United States for seven years, There is no pub-
lished proof Penkovsky fingered him, but It is a good
bet,
pasted military, political and economic secrets to, the Georgiev was counselor to Bulgaria's United Na-
British and Americans for 17 months. Greville M.. tions Mission from 1956 to 1961. During that time and
Wynne, a British businessman, confessed he was Pen- for the two years after he returned to Europe, the court
kovsky's? "contact" and drew an eight-year sentence. ` said, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency paid him a
otal of $200,000. He confessed he spent It on high liv-
ing with "loose women" and "many mistresses." He was
shot to death In Sofia.
Some years, as when Francis Gary Powers and his
U-2 shamed the United States, nothing our side does
seems .to turn out right. But there are others when the
breaks in the never-never land of espionage go against
the Russians.'And.1963 was one of them,
The 44-year-old colonel, a trusted scientific co-
ordinator who worked intimately with Russia's top
scientific and military leaders, was executed in May.
He ,confessed to a Moscow military court that he 'had
cretion, but they concede that the loss
of Penkovsky had a vast chain reaction.
CPYRGHT
Sanitized -Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000200340003-3
 Sanitized -
STATINTL
Sanitized -. Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000200340003-3