SPY'S LOVER PLUNGES TO HER DEATH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605740068-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 18, 2012
• Sequence Number: 68
• Publication Date: November 7, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/18 :CIA-RDP90-009658000605740068-9
ARTICLE AP
R?o
NEW YORK POST
ON PAGE ~
~
7 November 1985
SPY'S LOVER
PLUNGES TO
HER DEA l
ble-defector Vitaly ?ur-
chenko mysteriously
phmged to her death
from a 27th floor apart=
meat in Toroirto, it was
reported last night.
The woman, tentatively
identified as Svetiana
Dedkova, was the wife of
a high-rank8fg Soviet
trade otticia! based in
Tornoto~ and was having
a bve affair with Yur-
chenko. according to the
ABC-TV network.
The Toronto-based
Global TV Network re-
ported yesterday that
Canadian authorities
were investigating a pos-
sible connection between
the woman's death and
the return home of Yur-
chenko
Sut the Canadian Se-
curity Intelligence Ser-
vice declined to com-
ment on the report.
According to sources.
3veUana jilted the ob-
sessed Yurchenko and it
was then that he decided
to pull the sensational
double defection
But last night.. news of
her my:Rery death
plunge threw the entire
case into further chaos.
triggering speeulatton
about her real role in the
affair _ or eves if in tact
she had jilted Mm.
Svetlana's mangled
body was found in the
street in the Toronto sub-
urb of Etobicoke:
A stool was found on
the balcony from whicL
she fell.
Sources told The Post a
suicide note was found;
but Canadian atrtborities
refused to eay whethei
her death was a suicide.
accidental or suspicious
Yurchenko flew out of
the U~- leaf night toward
the Soviet Union. before
the death of his former
mistress became public
Canada's E3cternal Af-
fairs Ministry confirmed
yesterday that the wife
of an unnarnc~f Soviet
working for Omnitrade, a
Soviet trade office in To-
ront0. had died in a fall
from the 27th floor of a
high-rise in the Toronto
suburb of Etobicoke.
The woman's body was
too mangled for immedi-
ate identification, the
ministry said.
Her dental records
were being flown from
the Soviet embassy in Ot-
tawa.
Intelligence sources fn
Washington confirmed
that the trade official's
wife had been carrying
on an affair for about live
years with Yurchenlca
The Global TV Net-
work reported that the
dead woman's husband
was a close personal
friend of Yt~rct~enka
Sources told The Post
that Yurchenko com-
municated with the Sari-
ets secretly chile in the
custody of the CtiA.
"Some heads are going
to roll at the CIA over
this," one intelligence
source told The Post's
Niles I.athem.
The source w~ouid not
discuss whether the dead
woman was Yuerbenko's
contact with the Kremlin
while he ~vss in CiA cus-
However. the (TA did
allow Yurchenko to take
a secret flight to Canada
in October for a busts'
rendezvous with her. it
was reported.
~Globat Neta-ors arm
ABC News also said that
the Canadian Security
Intelligence Service -
Canada s version of the
FBI -had [ound reason
to believe that the dead
Soviet woman had been
Yurchenko's mistress.
Toronto police sources
said the dead woman left
behind a note, but Inspec-
tor Ronald Prior de-
clined to confirm this.
In the U.S., National
Public Radio and ABC
News, quoting "adminis-
tration sources" and "au-
thorities," reported on
Yurchenko's broken tore
affair.
T ur ~lwukv M dJ under
close CIA scrutiny and it
would have been unusual
Yurchenko kept the mystery
alive by insisting to the end that he
never really defected in the first
place but instead was kidnaped.
drugged and tortured by
The balding, beefy masterspy
wore a slight grin as he arrived at
Dulles International, airport near
Washington with about 20 other
Soviets.
He seemed in good spirits and
walked briskly toward the Soviet II-
lyushin 62 jetliner waiting for him,
pausing briefly to wave to scores of
reporters.
The plane left shortly before 5
p.m., taking Yurchenko and his se-
cret with him.
Yurchenko returned to the U.S. "a
little depressed."
It was after the Canadian visit
that Yurchenko first became me
homesick and had second thoughts
about his defection.
Yurchenko has a wife and a 16-
year-old son in the Soviet Union.
But President Reagan isn't buy-
ingthe love story.
He said the apparent defection of
Yurchenko, a Soviet seaman and a
soldier were part of a Kremlin
scheme but "there's no way we can
prove or disprove it."
for him to be allowed to fly to
Canada to meet his mistress, esp-
ceically since she was linked to the
Soviet government.
But, as veteran ABC correspond-
ent John Scali reported on the
meeting: "At that time, Yurchenko
met face to face with the wife of the
Soviet diplomat who supposedly
loved him and who he thought
would defect with him.
"She refused and Yurchenko re-
turned to Washington," Scali re-
ported.
One source said Yurchenko was
allowed to meet his heartthrob to
persuade her to jo4n him in the U.S.
"She liked him as a spy, but not as
a defector;' the source explained,
and
The Canadia intelligence agency
declined to discuss whether the
dead woman may have been a CIA
counter spy, planted as the wife of a
Soviet officials.
Yurchenko, described as the No. 5
man in the KGB, left on a special
Aeroflot flight from Washington's
Dulles Airport to Moscow where a
hero's welcome - or a trator's pun-
ishment awaits him.
President Reagan said yesterday
that he suspects the incident was
part of a "deliberate ploy" to make
the U.S. look bad before the upcom-
ing summit in Geneva.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/18 :CIA-RDP90-009658000605740068-9