SOVIETS AND IPS LINK UP TO 'INFLUENCE' THE SUMMIT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201090031-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 25, 2010
• Sequence Number: 31
• Publication Date: August 23, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/25: CIA-RDP90
ARTiC - i
ON PAGE -
WASHINGTON TIMES
23 August 1985
Soviets and IPS link up
to `influence' the summit:
By Bill Gertz
THE YWSHINOTON TIMES
A delegation of high-ranking Soviet offi-
cials are expected to attend a "disarmament
conference" next month in San Francisco,
sponsored by the Institute for Policy Stud-
ies, whose scholars pride themselves on
their radical-left credentials, State Depart-
ment officials said yesterday.
Barbara Grob, press coordinator for the
San Francisco disarmament conference,
said the meetings will be closed to all but the
participants.
One U.S. expert on Soviet policy said the
visit might be used in a propaganda offen-
sive to influence U.S. public opinion on arms
issues before the U.S.-Soviet summit meet-
ing in November.
A previous conference arranged by the
Soviets in- a institute - which was o n
to visitors and reporters - aroused the ire
of many members of Congress, who
demanded to know why visas had been
The 10 Soviet officials, scheduled to
arrive here Sept. 2 for an unofficial visit, will
be led by Georgi Arbatov. He is director of
the Soviet Union's Institute on the U.S.A. and
Canada and a member of the Soviet Commu-
nist Party's Central Committee.
The State De rtment is trying to deter-
mine whether those Soviets applying for
20-day visas have intelligence connections.
said Jim Callahan, a State Department offi-
cial. A ruling on their visa applications is
expected early next week.
Among those in this Year's entourage is
Mikhail Milste n a Soviet military expert
who has been identified as a former general
in the GRU, the Soviet military intelligence
agency.
Mr. Callahan said the delegation was
invited by IPS and the Russian Institute of
the University of California at Irvine. But
Helen Weil, director of the U.C.-Irvine Rus-
sian Institute, said the school had given an
invitation only to Mikhail Shatrov, a play-
wright, and that no invitations had
been extended by her group to Mr.
Arbatov's delegation.
Other delegation members
include Sergei Churkin, Mr.
Arbatov's deputy; Spartak Beglov, a
Moscow University professor; Ser-
gei Chetverikov, deputy chief of the
U.S.A. section of the Ministry of For-
eign Affairs; and Valeri Chibisenkov,
executive secretary of the U.S.S.R.-
U.S.A. Friendship Society.
Mr. Arbatov, along with Mr. Mil-
steyn, was denied a U.S. visa in 1981
because Mr. Arbatov appeared on
U.S. television programs while
Americans repeatedly had been
denied equal access to Soviet televi.
sion and other media. Officials said
they did not know whether Mr.
Arbatov has been in the United
States since 1981.
Mr. Arbatov has appeared fre-
quently on network television news
programs. He has authored an
English-language book called "The
Soviet Viewpoint:'
The four-day conference is the
third in a series of such meetings.
The Soviets also will make stops in
Washington, D.C., New York, Phil-
adelphia and Portland, Ore.
When the Institute for Policy
Studies (IPS), whose headquarters
are in a building just off Dupont Cir-
cle, sponsored the first such disar-
mament meeting in Minneapolis in
1983,92 members of Congress wrote
the State Department protesting the
department's decision to grant visas
to the visiting Soviets.
The congressmen questioned the
legitimacy of the Soviets' academic
credentials and charged the group
was part of a Soviet Communist
Party "active measures" operation.
Of the 29 Soviets who a lied for
visas, two were excluded he-use. of
intelligence connections.
Some U.S. academics sharply
questioned the legitimacy of the
conference. "These guys fly high,
but they must not be viewed as
scholars:' said Georgetown Univer-
sity professor Roy Godson. "While
some of them are intellectuals and
employ intellectuals on their staff,
they are controlled by the Central
Committee Party Secretariat and
should not be viewed as independent
scholars."
The conference will include
"talks on disarmament and foreign
policy" and will "focus on the 'star
wars' program and U.S.-Soviet rela-
tions in the Pacific Basin:"
"Star wars" is a popular term for
the Reagan administration's space
defense research program. The
Soviets have tried to influence pub-
lic opinion against the program.
"We've got the No. 1 Russian guy
in American politics coming:' Mar-
cus Raskin, a co-founder of IPS, was
quoted in a statement drafted for the
press, but he could not be reached
for amplification of the remark.
An IPS statement said the meet-
ings would be co-sponsored by the
Soviet Academy of Sciences. Half
the Soviet officials are employed by
the Soviets' U.S.A. Canada Institute,
which operates under the auspices
of the academy.
A 1982 House Intelligence Com-
mittee study of Soviet propaganda
measure3 described t1 le institute as
an adjunct of the Communist Party
International De rtment and r
Godson of Georgetown University
descnbes the U.S.A. Canada Insti-
tute as a component of the "Soviet
active measures andisinformation
ap ratuc?
"While the U.S.A.-Canada Insti-
tute also collects information for the
Soviet leadership, one of its primary
Purposes is to influence Western
perceptions and behavior;" said Mr.
Godson, author of a recent book on
Soviet "disinformation" operations.
"Active measures" is a term that
describes overt and covert tech-
es used to influence events and
behavior abroad to further Soviet
interests.
"It's not just propaganda:' Mr.
Godson said. "Active measures are
actually designed to affect behavior
which is done by affecting percep-
tions using true and intentionally
false information."
John Rees, a _specialist on Soviet
intelligence operations, said Soviet
defectors from the U.S.A.-Canada
Institute estimate that 40 percent of
staff is made up of KGB or GRU
"cooptees" - Soviets pressed into
service by the intelligence services
I i2formation collected by the in ti-
tute has been supplied to Soviet intel-
ligence, he said.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/25: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201090031-5