FRENCH PATIENCE SNAPPED BY SOVIET SNOOPING ON HIGH-TECH INDUSTRIES AND MILITARY BASES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000201300006-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 18, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: April 7, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/18: CIA-RDP90-00845
V I f. I
R000201300006-6
ARTICLE APPEARED. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
ON PAGE __... 7 APRIL 1983
French patience snapped by Soviet snooping-
on high-tech industries and military bases
By Jonathan Fenby - on April 5. One of his companions on Foreign Ministry 0 working at the
Special to - the Aeroflot airliner that flew the ex clandestine activities , of, Soviet
The Christian Science Monitor pelled men and their families back to diplomats . _
Paris -'.Moscow- was the Paris bureau chief of.. ;._.-.But the extent-of Soviet spying on -
In the mid-1970s, radical newspa- ~ ' the Tass Soviet news agency, Oleg France's. advanced military and in-._
pens in West Europe took pleasure in 'Shirokov: According to the report by'. dustrial technology grew to such pro-
printing lists of the names of Central France's counterespionage organza- portions that President Francois
Intelligence Agency agents hiding un tion, the Directorate of: Territorial. Mitterrand decided to act. Although
der diplomatic cover. Among the pub- - - Surveillance - (DST), Mr. Shirokov is they will not officially disclose exactly
lications was a far-left French daily,. also a member of the KGB.. . what the 47 expellees are accused of,
Liberation, which published the The GRU chief was named as na the French authorities insist that they,
names of 40 alleged CIA agents in,... val attache Vasily Golitsyn. The-re-L-., have detailed proof nL their guilt. In
Paris in January 1976. -: port was drafted in 1980 and, says. Lib- formed. sources said, the Soviet diplo--~-
Seven years later, Liberation, now eration,was regularly updated. .. mats and commercial attaches had
transformed into probably the-. best- No sooner had the report appeared shown strong interest in high-technoi_ French morning newspaper, has than- French intelligence sources- ogy developments-by French firms..
turned the tables. In the wake of the sought to downplay its importance. On the military side, Soviet agents,
expulsion of 47 Soviet diplomats, jour- But what was clear was that French are understood to have. been particu-
nalists, and commercial staff from counterespionage agencies have larly keen on gathering information
France on April 5, the paper came out known about the extent of Soviet spy- _ about French naval installations in .
with an intelligence report listing 30 ing operations in France, and the the Mediterranean. Their main target
Soviet envoys in France as agents for names of..diplomats involved, for at . _ was the large naval base atToulon_
either the KGB (state security police) 'least three years.- However, the France has recently refused Soviet
or the GRU (Soviet military police) ... French government chose not to take -requests to be allowed-to send ships to . 1
The list makes tantalizing reading. any action until the spectacular mass Toulon for repairs, fearing they would
The top KGB man in France, identi- expulsions on April 5. gather information. about the base.
tied by other sources apart from Lib- One explanation for the previous- With their ships kept out, the Soviet 1
eration, is named ? --as Nikolai - inaction was given some years ago by . agents from Paris were left to gather . ,
Chetverikov, No. 3 man at the Soviet" . a former head of counterespionage., what information they could. about
Embassy here before. he was expelled Jean Rocket who accused. the French- -French naval operations , .,_ .
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/18: CIA-RDP90-00845R000201300006-6