A RUSSIAN EDITOR IS MISSING FROM A MUNICH RADIO STUDIO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504230003-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: March 4, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
r Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90I 00965R000504230003-8
NEW YORK TIMES.
A.' o. _;irr ` t 4 March 1986 FILE 6
;
A Russian Editor Is Missing
From a Munich Radio Studio'
By JAMES M. MARKHAM
Spd-1 to Mw Nw Yost Tfmn
' BONN, March 3 - The Soviet-born
=e= Radio Liberty, an
tation that broad-
tasts to the Soviet Union, has been
missing for a week, according to offi-
cials at the station in Munich.
The editor, Oleg Tumanov, 42 years
old, has. been missing since last Tues-
day after having left work the previous
day complaining that he felt unwell, ac-
cording to the station.
"He is gone and has been gone since
? Last week," said Nicholas Vaslef, sta-
tion director. "For all we know he if
sunning himself in Italy. It Is certainly
an unauthorized absence."
There has been speculation that Mr.
Tumanov, who reportedly had a num-
ber of debts, had re-defected.
A sailor in. the Soviet Navy, he
jumped ship in the Mediterranean and
swam six miles to Libya in 1965, ac-
cording to Bill Mahoney, a station
spokesman. As a deserter, he was sen-
tenced to death in absentia. After a
stay in Britain, he joined the Munich
station in 1966. He was divorced from
his English wife, who has custody of
their daughter.
Friends at Radio Liberty said a
woman friend, Tamara Pol janskaya,
had been unaware of his disappearance
and, when told of it on Thursday, re-
garded it as a joke. Mr. Tumanov was
said to have emptied his bank account.
Victor Gregoriy, the station's deputy
director, said: "He was very well bal-
anced. He was a very quiet and re-
served man."
Another staff member said, "It is a
classic case of blackmail. The man was
in debt, and he defected with his money
and his fancy neckties." He speculated
that if Mr. Tumanov had re-defected,
the Soviet Union might attempt to ex-
ploit his knowledge of the station.
As acting chief editor, Mr. Tumanov
organized programs and checked them
before they were broadcast to the
Soviet Union. Several colleagues spoke
highly of the quality of his work.
. Offlclals at the station said the. Mu-
nich police had been informed of Mr.
Tumanov'e diaappea , but had
found no trace of him
Radio Liberty and its sister station,
Radio Free Europe, which broadcasts
to Eastern Europe, are financed by the
Congress and the Board
for International Brerseen a in
Cummings. head of security
at the stations, said there had been
"less than a half dozen" cases of redo-
fections. The 1,700 staff members at
the two stations are mostly Emigrbs.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504230003-8