PRESIDENT SAYS AGENT'S RETURN POSSIBLY A PLOY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403270011-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: November 7, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403270011-7
BOSTON GLOBE
7 November 1985
President says
agent's return
possibly a ploy
By Fred Kaplan
J Globe Staff
WASHINGTON - President Reagan yester-
day said the Vitaly Yurchenko affair - in which
a senior KGB official defected to the West. then
denounced the CIA and returned yesterday to
the Soviet Union - "might have been a deliber-
ate ploy" planned by Moscow.
[A Canadian television network reported yes-
terday that authorities were investigating a pos-
sible connection between a Soviet woman's sui-
cide in Toronto and Yurchenko's return to the
Soviet Union. Page 1&]
In an interview with news wire services. Rea-
gan noted that the Yurchenko episode coincided
with two recent similar cases - that of Miroslav
Medvid. a Soviet sailor who jumped ship in New
Orleans but then decided to return. and that of
Vastlyeich Sukhanov. a Soviet soldier who de-
fected to the US Embassy in Afghanistan but
then said he wanted to go back home.
"I have to say that this coming as they do
together, these three particular Incidents, you.
can't rule out the possibility that this might
have been a deliberate ploy, a maneuver," said.
Reagan.
Reagan volunteered the view that the three
incidents were linked when he was asked a re-
lated but separate question about whether he.
had ordered an Investigation Into the Yur-
chenko episode.
He did not explicitly endorse the theory that
the three incidents together constituted a Soviet
ploy. "There's no way that you can prove that it
isn't so. On the other hand, there's no way you
can prove that it is." he said.
Reagan said. "You can't rule out personal de-
sire, homesickness. whatever It might be" as
other possible motives for the defectors' behav-
II for. However, he
added, "I think it's awfully easy.
for any American to be perplexed
by anyone that could live in the
United States and would prefer to
live in Russia."
Yurchenko, who claimed in a
dramatic news conference at the
Soviet Embassy Monday that he
had not defected but instead been
kidnapped and tortured by the
CiA, left the United States just be-
fore 5 p.m. yesterday.
He departed aboard the same
Soviet airliner that shortly after
noon brought Soviet ambassador
Anatoly Dobrynin back from pre-
summit talks in Moscow.
Accompanied by about 20 oth-
er Soviets. Yurchenko walked
briskly from a van at Dulles Inter-
national Airport near Washington
to the plane. He paused briefly
and waved to reporters, but said
nothing.
Yurchenko, dressed In a beige
raincoat, was given two bouquets
of roses by Soviet Embassy offi-
cials, a presentation one official
called a Soviet custom for depar-
tures.
An embassy official said Yur-
chenko was "very happy" to be
? going home.
Three US government officials
briefly boarded the plane and left
a few minutes later.
Yurchenko, until recently the
5th highest-ranking official in the
Soviet KGB, defected to the US
Embassy in Rome In July. In Sep-
tember, he reportedly revealed de-
tails about Soviet spying to the
CIA, and was heralded as a great
intelligu,, c t
But yesterday, asked fYur-
chenko had given his CA de-
briefers useful information. when
he first defected. Reagan said .*
the interview,. "Well, hctbally.ihe
information that he rovided was
not anything new U sensational.
sensational.
It was pretty much ink''ormation al-
ready known to the
A senior White ouse official,
speaking on conditf that he not
be Identified, amplified on these
remarks at a press'onfe"nce Ot-
er. "The CIA thought they had a
peach of a guy," he said. "The CIA
was telling us hgly great [Yur-
chenko] was." However, he said
there is no evidence Yurchenko
actually provided valuable infor-
mation.
The official also said there is no
concrete evidence that the defec-
tors were part of'a Kremlin ploy.
Rather, he said, "it's just a suspi-
cion.... We suspect we were
duped. But there's no way of tell-
I ng."
There is widespread belief in
the White House, the official said,
that the CIA does not deal well
with defectors, especially with
psychological problems that they
mnv be experiencing.
(Walter V. Robinson of the
Globe's Washington bureau con-
tributed to this report.)
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403270011-7