CANCER RESEARCHER SEEKS ASYLUM IN SOVIET UNION WITH WIFE AND 3 CHILDREN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000403780002-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 21, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: October 9, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/21 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000403780002-9
ARTICLE A
P EAR
ON PAGE
WASHINGTON TIMES
9 October 1986
Cancer researcher seeks
asylum m Soviet Union
with wife and 3 children
FROM COMBINED DISPATCHES
MOSCOW - The official Soviet news
agency 'ass reported yesterday that an
American cancer researcher emigrated
to the Soviet Union after being fired from
his job because he opposed U.S. foreign
policy.
The news agency said Arnold Lock-
shin, his wife and three children arrived
in Moscow yesterday after being granted
political asylum.
'ass said Mr. Lockshin - spelling his
name "Lokshin" in the English language
service - was a 47-year-old biochemist
and oncologist who headed the cancer
research laboratory at St. Joseph's Hos-
pital in Houston, 'Ibxas, from 1980 until
last month.
The man identified as Mr. Lockshin, a
woman identified as his wife, Lorraine,
and three children were shown on the
Soviet television evening news. Speaking
Mr. Lockshin was
quoted as saying that he
had brought with him
examples of what he
claimed were FBI
measures against his
family.
in English, he told TV viewers that he and
his wife had opposed the Vietnam War
and had fought for social justice in the
United States ever since.
"I am happy that this nightmare is
once and for all behind me:' lass quoted
him as saying. "We are in for a free life
now
"We thought this was a place where we
could raise our children without harass-
mentMr. Lockshin told a television in-
terviewer.
"The more active we were in the anti-
war movement and the louder we raised
our voice of protest against the anti-
democratic procedures fostered in our
country, the more fierce and sophisti-
cated was the persecution to which I and
my family were subjected at home;" he
said.
Mr. Lockshin was quoted as telling
lass he and his wife made a "very dif-
ficult" decision to leave the United States
after being persecuted for waging "an
active struggle against the dangerous as-
pects of the foreign policy of the Repub-
lican administration."
Mr. Lockshin was quoted as saying
that he had brought with him examples
of what he claimed were FBI measures
against his family.
He said the family's telephone conver-
sations were tapped, private mail
opened, that they were followed and re-
ceived provocative phone calls, 'ass re-
ported.
"This all finished with my being fired
and threatening to physically destroy me,
together with my three children, the old-
est of whom is 15," Mr. Lockshin was
quoted as saying.
In Washington, State Department
spokesman Peter Martinez said, "The
statements attributed to Mr. Lockshin, al-
leging that the U.S. government harassed
him and threatened his life because of his
political opinons are patently absurd."
In a statement issued last night, Mr.
Martinez said Mr. Lockshin was free to
travel to and from the United States, and
is free to choose his place of residence.
FBI Spokesman Ray McElhaney said
the FBI had no immediate comment on
Mr. Lockshin's reported emigration.
In Houston, St. Joseph's Hospital
spokeswoman Sue Sonnier identified Mr.
Lockshin as a pharmacologist and chem-
ist employed by a hospital affiliate known
as The Stehlin Foundation. Mr. Lockshin
worked in the hospital's cancer research
lab from July 1980 until August when
"his contract was terminated ... because
of job performance."
Mr. Lockshin was quoted as saying in
Moscow that "Lorraine and I are deeply
thankful to Soviet authorities that they
deemed it possible to grant us political
asylum. ... Obviously, not everything
that lies before us will be easy and sim-
ple, and perhaps one of the main
difficulties will be to master the Russian
language quickly and sufficiently fully."
Mr. Lockshin praised Soviet research
into cancer and said he was ready to
make a contribution, 'ass said. It said he
held a doctorate in philosophy and a bach-
elors' degree in biochemistry.
The news agency said Mr. Lockshin
had done research work at Harvard Uni-
versity and the Russian version said he
also had worked at the University of
South Carolina. However, the English ver-
sion identified the second school as the
University of Southern California. Debra
Allen, a University of South Carolina
spokeswoman, said Lockshin had not
done any work at the school, and a
spokeswoman at the University of
Southern California said there was no re-
cord he had ever worked there.
Margery Heffron, a spokeswoman for
Harvard University, said there is no re-
cord of an Arnold Lockshin in the Medi-
cal School's appointment records dating
back to 1910. She said there also is no
record of him with the Harvard Person-
nel Office since 1975.
Mr. Lockshin was mentioned last
month in a news conference by Soviet
Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze
at the Soviet Mission to the United Na-
tions.
Replying to questions from American
reporters about Soviet dissidents, Mr.
Shevardnadze mentioned Mr. Lockshin's
application for asylum, but provided no
details.
Western communists have occasion-
ally chosen in the past to live in the Soviet
Union, but Mr. Lockshin's case appeared
to be virtually without precedent.
The most recent known American de-
fector was war a Howard. a former
CIA operative who was granted asylum
in Moscow last Aw t.
Staff writer Bill Gertz contributed to
this report.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/21: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403780002-9