USSR/SAKHAROV

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000201350007-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 22, 2008
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: August 23, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2008/09/22 :CIA-RDP88-010708000201350007-2
twt, wvtctru tvr.w~ ivtviuni
23 August 1984
USSR/SAKIiAROV JENNINGS: Exclusive pictures of Soviet dissiendent,
Andrei Sakharov and his wife, Yelena Bonner. What do they
tell us?
JENNINGS: Good evening. We begin tonight with the health
and welfare of Soviet human rights activist Andrei.
Sakharov and his wife, Yelena Bonner. First, a note of
background. Virtually nothing has been seen or heard from
the Sakharovs since they went on a hunger strike three
months ago. There has been enormous concern in many
parts of the world. ABC News has acquired videotapes
which show the Sakharovs within the last month in the
Soviet city of Gorky to which they have been exiled.
ABC's diplomatic correspondent, Barrie Dunsmore, has this
report from London.
DUNSMORE: These pictures of the 63-year-old Sakharov and
his 61-year-old wife, Yelena Bonner, were taken
surreptitiously. In the Soviet Union, only a security
apparatus like the KGB would have been able to do this,
and so it must be taken for granted that this is Soviet
government propaganda, complete xith narration, designed
to counter world treatment of the Sakharovs. Sakharov,
once a Soviet hero, known as the father of the Soviet
hydrogen bomb, is a long-time critic of his government's
policies. he was sent, into exile in Gorky in 1980 for
opposing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. On May 2,
Sakharov went on a hunger strike, demanding that his wife
be alloxed to go to the West for medical treatment for
heart trouble. Instead, Mr?s. Bonner was also confined to
Gorky and was publicly accused of collusion with the U.S.
Embassy in Moscow and anti-Soviet activity. The videotape
thus tries to make several points. Mrs. Bonner is seen
driving a car, filling it with gasoline, shopping for
vegetables and apparently leading an active, healthy life.
No heart trouble there, the pictures are saying. And to
prove the pictures are recent, as Mrs. Bonner and her
lawyer ar?e walking down the street, someone just happens
to be standing nearby reading the July issue of a Soviet
sport magazine. As for Sakharov, they want to make the
point that he is no longer on a hunger strike, so they
show him eating. The quality of the picture indicates a
hidden camera in what appears to be a hospital room. To
nail down the time, someone brings him a Newsweek
magazine. That particular cover, the ir.ter?natioral
edition, came out about six weeks ago. ABC News obtained,
this videotape through the West Germany newspaper, Bild
Zeitung. We believe Bild's contact was Soviet journalis t
Victor *Louis, xho has teen the source of Sakharov
Cpcttinutd
Approved For Release 2008/09/22 :CIA-RDP88-010708000201350007-2
 Approved For Release 2008/09/22 :CIA-RDP88-010708000201350007-2
pictures in the past. Some people think he works for the
KGB. In any case, Louis has good contacts. He predicted
the Soviets would boycott the Olympics the day before the
boycott was announced. The full 18-minute tape is
extremely heavy handed. It begins by extolling the
virtues of beautiful downtown Gorky, a closed city
forbidden to Westerners. It shamelessly uses old
black-and-xhite pictures, interspersed with newer ones in
color. Although the narration suggests they see each
other, only once are the Sakharovs seen together, and that
appears to be several years ago. This bears out reports
that they are now being kept apart. When Sakharov is
pictured, supposedly sunning himself with a friend, he's
wearing hospital pajamas and slippers and the friend is a
noted Soviet psychiatrist who is awkardly trying to show
the camera that those European magazines ar?e July
editions. The naration on the tape is equally cynical.
UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: And again, a breath of fresh air.
What could be more pleasant than a nice chat?
DtTNSMORE: Still, Sakharov's son-in-lax, who viewed the
tape with a friend in a German newspaper office,
considered the release of the pictures a positive sign.
It was the first time he had seen moving pictures of the
Sakharovs in two years and the first word of any kind
since May. EFREM`~YANKELEVICH (Sakhar?ov's son-in-law): I
think I am very grateful to USSR for releasing the
pictures, because it was an opportunity to see them.
DUNSMORE: Here in London, human rights activist Alyona
Ko,jevnikov, who knows the Sakhar?ovs, was more skeptical.
ALYONA`~KOJEVNIKOV (human rights activist): It's not a
very reassuring sight, certainly, and I would say that
concern for Sakharov should remain at its present high
level.
DUNSMORE: One concern expressed by several Western
doctors who saw the tape is that Sakharov may have been
treated with strong tranquilizers. So what does this
videotape really tell us? The pictures firmly establish
that as of July, Andrei Sakharov and Yelena Bonner were
both alive, that he was no longer on a hunger strike and
that she was reasonably mobile. Whether? Sakharov is being
drugged is at least arguable. The pictures also tell us
that in spite of their crude propaganda techniques, the
Soviets were sufficiently moved by the the world uproar
over the Sakharovs that they had to do something. It's
not satisfactory, but it is something. Barrie Dunsmore,
ABC Nexs, London.
JENNINGS: This afterthought. In uashirgton, a group of
high-ranking State Department officials and Soviet experts
viewed the videotape of Sakharov and Mr?s. Bonner, and in
that group and ,joining us now is Richard Burt, the
Gpntint~
Approved For Release 2008/09/22 :CIA-RDP88-010708000201350007-2
 Approved For Release 2008/09/22 :CIA-RDP88-010708000201350007-2
assistant secretary of State. Mr. Burt, what do you
think? RICHARD\BURT (assistant secretary of State):
Ltell, Peter., I think that we agree with Barrie Dunsmore's
conclusion that Andrei Sakharov was probably alive when
the film was shot, which appears to be six weeks ago.
There's a very good chance, as he said, that he was
possibly under drugs, we have no evidence that he is alive
today and we have no evidence that he is in contact with
his wife. I think the tottom line is that the Soviet
Union owes ,the world far more than this KGB film.
JENNINGS: Khy do you think they did it now? BURT: It's
hard to say why they did it now. In part, it's a slow
season, it's a time when the Europeans are at the beach
and when Americans are preoccupied with the Olympics and
with the political conventions. One xonders why they
didn't wait until September. One wonders why they didn't
do it much earlier before the swarm or protest and
mounting concern took place, say, two months ago. It
maybe took them time to work with him, if they used drugs.
Perhaps it took time for the KGB to actually release these
films and these pictures they've taken. There is a report
that the film you obtained, they made an effort to
distribute in the nest some time ago but failed.
JENNINGS: Mr. Secretary, is there anybody in your group
today who is prepared to make any comment about whether or
not you think the Sakharovs are under the influence of any
sort of drugs? BURT: No, all we can go on really in the
watching of this film is xhat Mr. Dunsmore stated and that
it's clear that Mr. Sakharov is in some kind of
sanitorium. He appears to have hospital attire on. He
appears very gaunt. And these magazines that were alluded
to, these Newsweek magazines and other European magazines,
he doesn't really read the magazines, he just glances at
them. It's not as though he's concentrating.
JENNINGS: You have learned, I gather simultaneously, or
almost at the same time, that Mrs. Bonner has been
sentenced by the Soviet courts while this has been going
on? BURT: Hell, I can't confirm that story, but I can
say that we have received reports from the Soviet Union
that on Aug. 17, the Soviet judicial system sentenced her
to five years of internal exile. And this; if it's true,
is a very shocking indictment of the Soviet judicial
system.
Approved For Release 2008/09/22 :CIA-RDP88-010708000201350007-2