A NATO SPY LINK DENIED BY ITALY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP69B00369R000200090041-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 21, 2004
• Sequence Number: 41
• Publication Date: March 24, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

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A NATO SPY LINK
DENIED BY ITALY
3. Are Formally Charged
After Russian's Ouster
By ROBERT O. DOTY
Special to The New York Times
ROME, March 23 - The
Italian Defense Ministry said
today there was "no founda-
tion whatever" for reports that
officers of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization had been
implicated in a Soviet spy ring
uncovered in Turin.
qA communique left open,
however, the possibility that
Soviet spies might turn up
among the people whose names
were found on a long list in
the apartment' of three espio-
nage suspects.
The ? suspects - formally
charged in, Turin today under
two antiespionage statutes -
were Giorgio ? Rinaldi-Ghtslierl,
39 years old; his wife, Angela
Maria Antoniola, 52, and An
tonio Girard, who said he was
a chauffeur for the two others.
Seized' in the Rinaldi-Ghis-
lieri apartment, according to
Italian counterespionage inves-
tigators, were a powerful radio
sending and receiving set, code
books, microphotography equip-
ment and other espionage mate,
rial.
Girard, arrested at the Mont-
Genevre Pass between France
and Italy on March 15, is re-
ported to have carried 19 rolls
of microfilm of military Instal-
lations including United States
air bases In Spain.
The Rinaldi-Ghislieris were
arrested In Turin the same day.
On March 20, an attache of
the Soviet Embassy in Rome
was seized by the police in
fields outside Rome. They said
he had gone to a "drop" de-
posit for espionage material.
The attache, Yuri Pavienko,
was declared persona non grata
penalties from 15 years to" life
imprisonment-the latter only
if they are found guilty of hav-
ing transmitted state secrets to
a foreign power.
Beyond the statement deny-
ing the implication of NATO
officers, neither the Italian De-
fense Ministry nor the Foreign
Ministry would give further de-
tails on the case.
Suspect a Parachutist
Italian investigators said
Rinaldi-Ghislieri, a noted pro-
fessional parachutist, made his
first contact with a Soviet Lieu-
tenant colonel at the Rome em-
bassy in 1956 and was formally
recruited 'six years later into
the G.R.U., the Soviet Army
intelligence service.
Italian counter espionage
agents believe that he was as-
signed to espionage against
military bases in Spain and
elsewhere in the Mediterranean.
by the Italian Foreign Ministry.'
He left Italy by plane yesterday
with his wife and daughter.
The Italians; if convicted, fate
He was also linked with ac-
tivities reaching into Africa and
Scandinavia.
Rinaldi-Ghislieri was reported
today to have been hospitalized
In prison after a nervous col-
lapse. The newspaper Giornale
d'Italia said he had told in-
vestigators that he expected to
be killed by his Soviet masters
and, in fear of poisoning, would
eat only eggs boiled in his pres-
ence. No official sources would
confirm this report.
NATO Denies Reports
Special to The New York Times
PARIS, March 23-A spokes-
man for the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization said to-
night that "the news carried
by the press with respect to
the alleged involvement of 300
NATO officers in the spy ring
discovered in Italy lacks anS
foundation."
Approved' For Release 2004/06/14: CIA-RDP69B00369R000200090041-0
/06/14: CIA-RDP69 0000090041-0