RUSSIAN SAYS U.S. FASCINATES K.G.B.'S CHIEF

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000605740019-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 25, 2010
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: June 13, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000605740019-1
ARTICL! APPEARED
ON PAGE
NEW YORK TIMES
13 JUNE 1982
Russian Says U.S. Fascinates K.G.$..'s. Chief
Spsd 1toTle1iowYoskTto
LOS ANGELES, June 11- A former
Soviet diplomat who defected' to the
United States in 1971 says that Yuri V.
Andropov, who is regarded as a, possible
successor to Leonid I. Brezlmev,: has
long been fascinated by the United
States and has more than a casual un-
derstanding of its culture and its politi-
"For example, I think be's likely, to
be more understanding than the present
Soviet leadership of the internal con-
straints in this country, of the political
facts," remarked the former Soviet dip-
lomat, Vladimir Sakharov,? who'said
pro
e.
1967 w'
hen he was appointed take u ~ 3r Although Mr. Andropov's appon-'
the secret police. In 4973 he became a meat to head the X.G.B. was announced
full member of the party's policy-mak. is 1967, Mr. Sakharov said he believed
0-14 tb
Hi
i
hd
a
that he had known Mr. Andropov in said that he often visited the Andropov
Moscow while a friend of his son, Igor. home and met Igor's father there.
Mr. Sakharov commented in an inter- "He arranged for his son to get in the
view that Mr. Andropov, in addition to American studies group at the institute,
being aware of the political.situation in which I think was very significant," he
the United States, was. interested in said. "It was neat to impossible to get
American popular music, favored into the American group but his father
Western alcoholic beverages such as -succeeded in placing him there. He had
Scotch and French cognac and had' . a great interest in the United States and
Western books in his home library rang- must have seen a great future *or Igor
in from "How Green Was My Valley,': in American studies."
by Richard Llewellyn, to "Valley of the During visits to the(Andropov' home,
Dolls" by Jacqueline Susaan. Mr. Sahkarov, himself a fan of Ameri-
Stepped Down as B.G.B. Chief can music, said he saw records' of the
Mr. Andropov, who will be 68 on Tries. ? Glenn Miller Orchestra and other
day, American bands that Mr. ~
stud down last month as head of ? ?",
speaks ~ ish ' brought home to
,.the KG`$.;the Soviet'inteliigeace and who
state security agency, after he was Moscow from trips abroad. It was un:
reappointed to the .Communist Party's: usual and significant, Mr. Sakharov
10-member Secretariat,. which man:: suggested' for a senior Soviet official to
gages party day-to-day af keep such items from the West because
they are frowned on and in some cases
M
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h
c
r
a
ropov
.
e
t t
e Se
rete R inhbd
iit
um
s w
t
r
mm the police post was
some analysts in the West as a prelude
to a bid to succeed Mr. Brezbaev.
Mr. Sakharov, the son of a diplomatic
courier, said that after graduation from
Moscow's Institute of International
Relations,'he served from 1967 to 1871
as a junior diplomatic officer in Yemen,
Egypt and Kuwait.
While in Yemen, he said, he was re-
cruited by the K.G.B. and later, after
becoming a K.G.B. agent, he was ap.
proached by the United States Central
Intelligence Agency. Operating, as a
double agent, he supplied the C.I.A.
with information about Soviet Afairs
for more Iwo years before defecting to, I
escape a transfer back to Moscow.
Mr- Sakharov said:that-he defected
because of distaste for the police state
atmosphere in . his homeland. Now 37
years old, he lives with his American
wife in a Los Angeles suburb.
The former diplomat said that he first
met Mr: Andropov's son in 1961, when
both were accepted by the Institute of
International Relations. Mr. Sakharov
the appointment could have been made
secretly in 1964 'or 1965 "because I
remember a party we hadabout then to
celebrate his appointment;"
Mr. Sakharov, who said he never en..
countered Mr. Andropov, again after
going to work forthe K.G.B., added:.
"I don't want to glamorize him. He is
an ideologue deeply rooted.in the reall
Russian culture. But I think he is more
sophisticated and open-minded than
any Soviet leader. He knows how to
keep people under control and how to
give and take at the same time."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000605740019-1