STICKING UP FOR THE BULGARIANS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505140031-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 3, 2011
• Sequence Number: 31
• Publication Date: December 26, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/05/03: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505140031-4
ARTICLE APT'EAP.
09 PAGE -Z???
NEW YORK TIMES
26 DECEMBER 1982
Worl
The
Sticking Up for
The Bulgarians
True or not, Italian police reports
of a "Bulgarian connection" to the
assassin who shot Pope Jobn Paul II
hit a nerve in Moscow last week. In '
the latest official reaction, Leonid M.
Zamyatin, the Kremlin's top infor-
mation specialist on international af-
fairs, denounced speculation about a
trail leading from the attack in St.
Peter's Square last year to Sofia's se-
cret police-and thence to the K.G.B.,
the Russian security agency Whose
leader at the time happened to be
Yuri V. Andropov.
"An evil-minded campaign that
has not a grain nor an iota of trurth,"
said Mr. Zamyatin, who presumably,
speaks from experience.
The "connection" is taken seri-
ously by much of the Italian press,-
which recalled the Pope's powerful
role in supporting the Solidarity
union in his homeland. Last week in
Rome, Defense Minister Lelio Lago.
rio seemed to agree, telling Parlia-
ment, `The attempt on the Pope's life
by All Agca (the Turkish assassin) is
to be considered a true act of war in.
time of peace, a precautionary and
alternative solution to an invasion of
Poland."
But Foreign Minister Emilio Co.
lombo and intelligence sources in
Washington, Israel and West Ger-
many were not convinced. In a clear
referrence to Mr. Lagorio, the news-
paper of Mr. Colombo's Christian
Democratic Party accused the par-
ty's Socialist coalition partners of
"manipulating" the issue for internal'
political advantage. Mr. Colombo
added no specifics, merely affirming
Italy's determination to use all
means to combat foreign subversion.
Rome, he said, would tighten visa,
controls on aulgarlans _ and _ _ma
a denying em ~,tDS d
its am
bassador after Italy arnated, a.. BUkI
garian airline employee in Rome In
connectIcx with the shooting and the
announcement that two other Bulgar.
inns were wanted for questioning,
Bulgaria put two Italians accused of
photographing military sites an trial
for espionage last week, but claimiti
their
dentan tionality was ply coinci-
ges dthat enemies Of sources
may have spread "disinformation"
about the case. They doubted that the
Bulgarians, under K.G.B. tutelage,
would have considered the problem.
atical Political
the high ri~of~ such a plot
exposure.
Milt Freadeabsim
and Henry Giniger
Approved For Release 2011/05/03: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505140031-4