SOVIET SAYS A C.I.A. STATION CHIEF PASSED ON INSTRUCTIONS TO DANILOFF

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00965R000706630006-7
Release Decision: 
RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
December 7, 2011
Sequence Number: 
6
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
September 14, 1986
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00965R000706630006-7.pdf108.11 KB
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Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/07: CIA-RDP9O-00965ROO0706630006-7 UN rAL t _..Li11L." y r vr%r% i li?iGJ 14 September 1986 Soviet Says a C.I.A. Station Chief Passed On Instructions to Daniloff By PHILIP TAUBMAN Special to The New York Times MOSCOW, Sept. 13 - The Soviet Union presented new espionage charges against an American corre- spondent today and said the United States was holding East-West relations hostage to the case. The charges were presented by Gen- nadi F. Gerasimov, Foreign Ministry spokesman, at a news briefing. He said the Soviet Government had "irrefuta- ble" evidence that the correspondent, Nicholas S. Daniloff of the magazine U.S. News & World Report, had "acted on instructions" of an American diplo- mat, Murat Natirboff, who ended an as- signment here this summer. The Soviet Government press agen- cy, Tass, in reporting Mr. Gerasimov's briefing, identified Mr. Natirboft as Moscow station chief of the Central In- telligence Agency. Taroslav Verner, a spokesman for the United States Embassy, said Mr. Natirboff's title at the embassy was counselor for regional affairs. [In Washington, a White House spokesman repeated the Govern- ment's assertion that Mr. Daniloff was not a spy and had never worked for an American intelligence organi- zation. At the State Department, a spokesman declined to provide infor- mation about Mr. Natirboff.] Mr. Natirboff is the second embassy official to have been linked by the Soviet authorities to Mr. Daniloff. Last Monday the Government newspaper Izvestia said Mr. Daniloff had been al- luded to in a letter from Paul M. Stom- baugh, an embassy staff member who was expelled in June 1985 for what Moscow said was espionage. Daniloff Again Denies U.S. Link Mr. Daniloff, who was released from prison Friday into embassy custody pending trial, told The Associated Press that he "would not dignify the charges by commenting on them." Earlier, in a written statement read by his wife, Ruth, he said, "1 have no of- ficial or secret relationship with any in- telligence agency." The custody arrangement under which Mr. Daniloff was released from jail also involved the release in New York of Gennadi F. Zakharov, a Soviet employee of the United Nations, who faces espionage charges in the United States. Mr. Daniloff, who is free to move about Moscow but must check in with the authorities by phone every day, spent a quiet day at the embassy, ac- cording to his wife. Mr. Daniloff, in his written state- ment, reported that he had called Va- lery D. Sergadeyev, the investigator handling his case, three times today but the phone was not answered. She said he was "nervously and emo- tionally exhausted" from his 14-day confinement at Lefortovo Prison. The Daniloffs, although free to re- turn to their own apartment under the terms of the release, have settled tem- porarily in a spare apartment in the embassy compound. When Mr. Daniloff was arrested on Aug. 30, he was preparing to wind up his assignment and return to the United States. His replacement, Jeff Trimble, has moved into the U.S. News apartment with his family. Mr. Gerasimov, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, who presented the new es- pionage charges after Mrs. Daniloff had read her husband's statement, said continuation of the investigation did not rule out a diplomatic resolution. "We don't want such problems to poi- son the atmosphere of relations," he said. "The Soviet Union does not want this trivial and secondary incident to interfere with the development of rela- tions between the United States and the Soviet Union." Unusual Saturday Briefing Western diplomats said the unusual Saturday briefing was apparently in- tended to keep pressure on the United' States to accept the Soviet position that: the Zakharov and Daniloff cases were similar and that the resolution of one was tied to that of the other. Secretary of State George P. Shultz indicated Friday that the United States had accepted embassy custody grudg- ingly for the well-being of Mr. Daniloff. The agreement appeared to represent a retreat from Washington's earlier position that Mr. Zakharov not be re- leased until Mr. Daniloff was back in the United States. "The continued detention of Mr. Daniloff on false charges is unaccept- i able," Mr. Shultz said. Mr. Gerasimov said Mr. Shultz had adopted "an unacceptable position that makes Soviet-American relations hos- tage to the case of a trivial spy." The Soviet spokesman, citing the testimony of three unidentified Soviet citizens, said Mr. Daniloff had been col- lecting secret information about Soviet military forces and installations, nu- clear energy centers and radioactive waste sites. Says Data Given to U.S. He said the information, including copies of C.I.A. directives involving Mr. Daniloff's activities, had been made available to the United States, but had been ignored by Mr. Shultz. Mr. Gerasimov denied that the au-1 thorities once tried to pressure David' Goldfarb, a geneticist, to set up Mr.. Daniloff. The incident had been related by Mr. Goldfarb's son, Alex, a Colum- bia University microbiologist. The Foreign Ministry spokesman said David Goldfarb had denied the ac- count when he was interviewed re- cently by a Tass reporter. At the United States Embassy, Mrs. Daniloff said that her husband, after feeling "incredibly euphoric" when he was released from prison, was decom- pressing. "It is gradually sinking in that he is still a hostage," she said. She said that just before he left the prison, Mr. Daniloff was asked by his cellmate, a scientist, to smuggle out a mathematical formula, apparently an attempt to entrap Mr. Daniloff. She said her husband lost weight dur- ing the confinement and at first had dif- ficulty sleeping because the lights in the cell were left burning all night. Mr. Daniloff, saying it was time "to cool" the furor around his case, said it might disrupt Soviet-American rela. tions as the two sides approach a deci- sion on whether to schedule a summit meeting this year. Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/07: CIA-RDP9O-00965ROO0706630006-7