TRY RED LEADERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600400442-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 25, 2011
• Sequence Number: 442
• Publication Date: July 20, 1951
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/25: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600400442-6
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CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTED
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CO NO.
COUNTRY Bulgaria
SUBJECT Political; Biographic - Trial, party leaders
HOW
PUBLISHED Daily newspaper
WHERE
PUBLISHED Zurich
DATE
PUBLISHED 5 Jun 1951
LANGUAGE
TH13 DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF TNI UNITED STATES WITHIN THE NEARING OF ISPIONASI ACT SO
U. S. C.. 31 AND SS. AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSNI3510N OR TII ITILAT100
OF ITS CONTENTS IN ANY HARMER TO AN UNAUTHORIZED PA..ION IS PRO-
HINITED NT LAW. REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM IS PROHIBITED.
A Yugoslav specialist in Bulgarian affairs and former Communist leader
in Bulgaria, Ivan Karaivanov, comments as follows in the newspaper Politika
sate not given] on the political background of Kunin and Se.icelarov, main
defendants in the secret Sdi`ia trials of four Communist leaders.
Petko Kunin, one-time Minister of Finance, is described as one of the
most prominent Bulgarian revolutionaries. Kunin is a veteran of the unsuccess-
ful 1923 uprising. He managed to escape from an internment came during World
War IY and subsequently organized partisan groups. After the war, he became
a member of the Bulgarian Politburo and of the Supreme Economic Council, as
well as Minister of Industry and later Minister of Finance.
The reason for his downfall, said Karaivanov, is his refusal to honor an
enormous bill for expenses incurred by Bulgarian emigrants in Moscow before
the war, presented to him by the Soviets while he was ip office as Bulgarian
Minister of Finance. This refusal, which occurred without previous consulta-
tion with the Ministerial Council, led to his being accused of collaboration
with Kostov, whose downfall was precipitated by similar difficulties.
Kunin, like Kostov, belonged to a group of leaders regarded by the Soviets
as unreliable. Their rise in the party did not take place during their resi-
dence in Moscow, but after their return to their own countries.
The second main defendant, llanal? Sakelarov, forger Minister of
Public Works and Electrificatias, on the other hand, attained his position
with the party while living in Moscow. Sakelarov, a construction engineer,
was an old party member. His house served as the base of operations for the
unsuccessful September (1943) uprising of Dimitrov and Kolarov with whom he
emigrated to the USSR. He returned to Sofia after the overthrow of the gov-
ernment in 1944.
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1951
DATE DIST. PO Jul 1951
NO. OF PAGES 2
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTED
RESTRICTED
STAT
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 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/25: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600400442-6
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B
Sakdlarov fell into disgrace pith the soviets because he opposed the
"planless and stupid" administration of the porer plat and reservoir con-
struction project, stated Yaraivanov.
As for the remaining two defendants, one raj formerly a member of the
Central Committee of the Bulgarian Cosm mt.t Party, and the other a regional
party secretary, according to the writer.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/25: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600400442-6