SOVIET CHALLENGES POPE PLOT CHARGE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504660008-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: May 25, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/27: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504660008-6
P,RTl.L R.', L;nED
NEW YORK TIMES
25 May, 1985
SOVIET CHALLENGES
POPE PLOT CHARGE
By SETH MYDANS
Special to The New York Tunes
MOSCOW, May 24 - The Soviet
Union announced today that it had
created what it called a Committee for
the Defense of Sergei I. Antonov, the
Bulgarian who is to go on trial in Rome
on Monday on a charge of plotting to as-
sassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981.
The committee appeared to be mod-
eled after a Bulgarian group that was
created in March. The Bulgarian group
hzs called the case a contrivance by the
Central intelligence Agency.
As Mr. Antonov's trial has drawn
near, the Soviet press has printed arti-
cles saying the former Bulgarian offi-
cial was being framed by Western se-
cret services as part of a campaign to
smear the Eastern bloc nations.
The press has published articles ac-
cusing the United States of what it calls
"state terrorism." United States ac-
tions in Grenada, Nicaragua and the
Middle East are drawn together under
this heading.
The newly formed Soviet committee
includes representatives of trade
unions, organizations of women and
The newspaper said the allegation
that he conspired with Bulgarian
agents was a "provocation cooked up
by the Western secret services" and
added that "there is nothing astonish-
ing" in his reported travels through
Bulgaria. "Hundreds of thousands of
Turkish citizens do that," Izvestia said.
The newspaper said it seemed
strange that Mr. Agca had traveled
freely in Italy even though the interna-
tional police network Interpol had dis-
tributed his photograph. It hinted at a
Vatican connection in his actions.
"The view is widespread among
Turkish journalists in Rome that there
were people among the Vatican top
crust who had a stake in the physical
removal of Pope John Paul II," Izves-
tia said.
It said that the Pope, being Polish
rather than Italian, "went against the
grain" of the Vatican establishment. -
youth and workers in the fields of cul-
ture, science and art, as well as law-
yers, medical professionals and repre-
sentatives of the clergy, according to
the official press agency, Tass.
Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turk, is serving
a life term for the shooting on May 13,
1981. Mr. Agca first said he operated
alone. He later provided information
that led to conspiracy indictments
against 'three Bulgarians, including
Mr. Antonov, a former manager of the
Bulgarian national airline's Rome of-
fice. Mr. Antonov is accused of helping
to plan the shooting. The two other Bul-
garians charged, who left Italy before
Mr. Antonov was arrested, will be tried
in absentia.
The Antonov committee is headed by
Vladimir Karpov, chief editor of the
journal Novy Mir.
In recent articles, the Soviet press
has said e charges against Mr. Anto-
nov were "a frame-u "based on "false
t~ tmonv v r Aeca Mr. Aaca was
said to have been "masterminded by
agents of Italian security services on
instructions from the U.S. Central In-
telligence Agency."
A recent series of articles in the Gov-
ernment daily, Izvestia, described Mr.
Agca as a professional terrorist who
had worked for "neo-Fascist" organi-
zations.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/27: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504660008-6