'KGB AT DOORSTEP', PARIS PAPER WARNS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807530002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: January 13, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807530002-0
ARTICLE ,'1'PEA
ON PAGE L
By Andrew Borowiec
THE y^SHINGTON TIMES FOREIGN SERVICE
KGB at doorstep,'
.Paris paper warns
PARIS - A 35-year-old investiga-
tive reporter rattled the French po-
litical establishment this weekend
by announcing that Soviet KGB
agents have penetrated every facet
of the nation's life. "The KGB is at
your doorstep,' bannered the pop-
ular Sunday paper "Le Journal du
Dimanche."
The revelation by Thierry Wolton,
a staff member of the conservative
French weekly "Le Point,' was re-
garded as a bombshell by politicians
looking toward crucial legislative
elections that are expected to unseat
the Socialist majority two months
from now.
French newspapers and the state
television quickly picked up on Mr.
Wolton's book "The KGB in France."
Contacted by The Washington
Times, Mr. Wolton said that all
available copies of his book had been
snapped up Friday and Saturday. "I
have nothing more to add,
everything I know is there;' he said.
The accusations are chilling to
French politicians of all stripes.
In short, Mr. Wolton. claims that
there are few secrets in France to
the Kremlin, that KGB agents have
reasonably detailed information
about what goes on in the pres-
idential palace, the office of the
prime minister, in the Ministry of
Exterior (foreign) Affairs and of de-
fense.
He identified the Soviet spy net-
works in France as using the
codenames of "Zenith;' "Flint" and
"Residence" and said most of their
key agents occupy three floors in the
Soviet Embassy building at 40 Bou-
levard Lannes which he described as
a "veritable bunker" insulated
against electronic monitoring and
where even the use of typeweriters
is banned and all agents write their
reports in longhand.
According to Mr. Wolton, the So-
viet agents who analyze the col-
lected information work in a large
room where desks are separated by
transparent plastic partitions. The
secretaries are wives of senior KGB
officials who watch every move of
the agents, most of whom belong to
"Section PR:' which gathers political
intelligence and puts out disinfor-
mation, and "Line X,' which he iden-
tified as scientific and technological
espionage.
The walls of this Soviet intelli
ence hideout accordin the
French io rnalist, are lined with-
nhotogranhs of French security
agents as well as of the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers
assigne to France.
The roof of the building is covered
by electronic equipment capable of
monitoring communications by sat-
ellite and having access to a large
portion of the Paris telephone net-
work.
Thus, Mr. Wolton claims, the KGB
in Paris is capable of relaying to
Moscow conversations between the
presidential palace and key minis-
tries. The KGB machinery in Paris
is also capable of breaking into a
number of government and private
computer systems, he said.
In hisbook, Mr. Wolton also claims
that Paris is riddled with hundreds
of Soviet agents camouflaged under
myriad covers. The book has an ap-
pendix identifying firms with ad-
dresses and telephone number
which according to the author serve
either as "mail boxes" or other KGB
offices.
For example, among those named
are the "Black Sea and Baltic Gen-
eral Insurance" at 4 rue
D'Argenson, or the maritime agency
"Sagmar" at 36 rue Brunel (tele-
phone [phone]).
Appearing on the Friday night
television show "Apostrophes;' Mr.
Wolton sucked on his pipe and
elaborated:
WASHINGTON TIMES
13 January 1986
"The Soviet secret services have
infiltrated our country. They manip-
ulate officers and high officials. No
political party can challenge my
book because all have something to
hide:'
Mr. Wolton started his investiga-
tion following the expulsion from
Paris of 47 Soviet "diplomats" in
April 1983 on charges of spying. It
was not immediately clear how he
managed to obtain detailed de-
scriptions of the KGB setup in Paris
and of its various adjuncts.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807530002-0