BULGARIAN SCOFFS AT TIMES ARTICLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404090001-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 21, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: April 8, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/21 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000404090001-5
ART 2 = bI I NEW YORK TIMES
8 APR, 1983
Agency, though no less than seven ped_
of that name were found to ;
pig
in the the militia, factory ctry guards,
ing
AT TIDES ARTICLE'
il,
traffic controllers, etc."
Savov is a common Bulgarian Sim-
name.
Spokesman Doubts Existence Mr. Traskov's cablegram said:
'Do you think it is at all likely that a
higli-ranking official
of a
of an Agent Quoted on Plot.
en
a J rite' top.secretcperation as an.at-'
in 1981 A
ainst P
g
O
g . _ P ! 'tempt on the lice of the Pope would be so
indiscreet as to disclose the plot to such ;
.a motley collection of people including
A Bulgarian spokesman, respoodittgt~atelhgmceagents and eve a
loan article published in The New York -msintenance mechanic?.I
Times on March 23, has questioned The Times article reported that Mr.
whether a Bulgarian intelligence offs- Mantarov had toldthe French authori-
cial mentioned in the report actually ez- ties about his knowledge of the plot; it
ists. The Official was reported to have also reported the results of a two-month
investigation by Nicholas Gage in seven
said that the Soviet secret
olice
p
.
wanted Pope John Paul II killed to pro countries in Western Europe on what
vent Western subversion of Poland. 1was known about the Italian investiga-
The Times article said a Bulgarian tion into purported Bulgarian involve-
intelligence official named Din ter merit in the attempted assassination of-
Savov had told Jordan Mantarov, a Bul. the Pope by -a Turkish terrorist,- Meb-
garian who later defected in France, metl Agca, on May 13, 11981.
that the K.G.B., the Soviet intelligence ! Since his conviction, Mr. Agca has
and internal security agency, saw .the implicated a Bulgarian state airline of.
election of the Polish Pope in 1979 as a 4 ficial in Rome,Sergei I. Anton, in the
threat to Soviet control over Poland. plot and the Italians have had the Bnl-
Mr. Mantarov, identified in the arts- Sarian under arrest and investigation.
cle as a deputy commercial attache The information in Mr. Gage's article
with the Bulgarian Embassy in Paris, was checked with independent sources
has been in French custody since his de- in the United States and in Europe who
fection in 1981. said they believed Mr. Mantarvv was a
The Bulgarian spokesman, Boyars Bulgarian agent, even though he was
Traikov, who heads the Bulgarian Tele. not listed as an embassy attache in
graph Agency, the Government's press France, according to Craig R. Whitney,
service, said in a cablegram Sent- foreign editor of The Times.
March 31 that Mr. Mantarov had been With regard to the assumption that
an employee of a Government comps- the Soviet Union and Bulgaria warned
ny, Agromachinaimpeks, which e=- the Pope killed to prevent the subver-
ports farm equipment, and had worsted Sion of Poland, the cablegram said:
in Paris as "a maintenance mechanic.,"It is well known that the assassin-
This was a reiteration of a statement tion of this Polish Pope, far from reduc-
made last month by the Bulgarian Em. ing tension in Poland, would to the con-
bassy in trary have had a highly destabilizing ef-
As to the official named Dimiter fect on the situation in that country. If
Savov, the cablegram said: anybody was going to profit from the
was not the
"Whether such a person existed or assassination of the Pope, it
not makes no substantial difference, socialist countries."
but nevertheless a checkup was made.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/21 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000404090001-5