KGB AGENT ASSURES US HE'S LEAVING OF FREE WILL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403270012-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: November 6, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403270012-6
PIKII(;LEAP REO 6 November 1985
ON RACE
KGB agent assures US
he's leaving of free will
h
By Fred Kaplan
Globe Staff
WASHINGTON - Soviet defec-
tor Vitaly Yurchenko, in a meet-
Ing at the State Department, last
night assured US officials that he
wanted to go back to the USSR
and that he was doing so under
his own free will, according to a
State Department spokesman.
His assurances came as two
top members of the Senate Intelli-
gence Committee said their panel
will look into the CIA's handling
of the case, a tangled affair that
has provided embarrassment for
the US intelligence community, a
vehicle for Soviet propaganda and
many questions about the defec-
tor's motives. Yurchenko, 50. ar-
rived at the State Department
shortly after 6 p.m.. flanked by
four officials from the Soviet Em-
bassy. They met behind closed
doors with six US officials for ap-
proximately a half hour, accord-
ing to the spokesman. Charles
Redman.
After the meeting, Yurchenko
and his fellow Soviets walked out
to the same Oldsmobile in which
they had arrived. Asked whether
he was going home, Yurchenko
held his hands above his head and
shook them like a champion and
said. "Yes, home." Asked when,
he said, "Any time."
"The United States govern-
ment has decided that Mr. Yur-
chenko's decision to return to the
Soviet Union was made of his own
free will and that he is now free to
leave the United States." Redman
told reporters after the session.
Yurchenko, until recently the
fifth highest-ranking official in
the KGB. defected in the US Em-
bassy in Rome last July. while on
a mission to prepare security for
Soviet scientists attending a con-
ference on nuclear war. In Sep-
tember. he reportedly revealed de-
tails about Soviet spying to the
CIA - among them. the identity of
a former CIA official who had be-
trayed a double-agent in Moscow -
and was heralded as one of the
great intelligence assets of the dec-
ade.
Then. Monday night, much to
the surprise of the US intelligence
community. Yurchenko appeared
at a press conference at the Soviet
residential compound in Washing-
ton. He claimed he had not defect-
ed voluntarily, that the CIA had
kidnapped, drugged and attempt-
ed to bribe him. He said he wanted
to return to the Soviet Union.
Purpose of meeting
The purpose of last night's
meeting at the State Department.
.said spokesman Redman, "was to
determine whether f Yurchenko]
was making the decision of his
own free will." Said Redman.
"The meeting was held in an at-
mosphere free of the possibility of
Soviet coercion. We made it clear
to Mr. Yurchenko that if he
wished to remain In the United
States he was free to do so. In that
case he would not be subject to de-
tention of any kind by US authori-
ties, nor would he be returned to
the custody of the Soviet authori-
ties. Mr. Yurchenko repeated sev-
eral times that he wished to re-
turn to the Soviet Union. He said
that he made this decision of his
own free will and denied being
pressured by Soviet authorities."
Redman said a State Depart-
ment doctor was present, and "de-
termined that there was no ob-
servable evidence that Mr. Yur-
chenko was under the influence of
drugs which could affect his be-
havior or that he was not compe-
tent to make his own decision to
return to the USSR."
Redman said the doctor con-
ducted no medical tests but would
have had he had any doubts
about Yurchenko's state of mind.
The Interview with Yurchenko
was conducted by William
Woesser. acting assistant secre-
tary of state for European affairs.
Redman declined to identify the
other five US officials or to state
whether they were from the State
Department or other agencies.
The only Soviet official identi-
fied was Victor isakov, the embas-
sy's minister counselor and, ac-
cording to Redman. the only Sovi-
et official at the meeting allowed
to sneak.
Panel will probe case
Meanwhile, the top two mem-
bers of the Senate Intelligence
Committee said the panel will in-
vestigate the CIA's handling of the
Yurchenko case.
Sen. Patrick Leahy. (D-Vt.).
Senate Intelligence Committee
vice chairman, said Yurchenko es-
caped after having dinner In
Georgetown, a fashionable section
of Washington. on Saturday
night.
"1 can't understand how a per-
son considered to be a major defec-
tor was allowed to have dinner a,
short distance from the Soviet
Embassy." Leahy said. He "was
just allowed to walk away."
In another development. US in-
telligence sources said Yurchenko
may have defected to the West in
part to be near a girlfriend in Can-
ada and may. have returned be-
cause the affair turned sour.
The sources said Yurchenko.
who has a wife and a 16-year-old
son in the,Soviet Union, may have
decided to defect to be near his al-
leged lover. She was described by
the sources as the wife of a Soviet
diplomat posted to Canada.
One US intelligence source, at-
tempting to explain possible rea-
sons for Yurchenko's surprise re-
turn to the Soviets, said of the
woman in Canada: She liked him
as a spy but not as a defector."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403270012-6