SOVIET PROPAGANDA ALERT NUMBER 6

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83M00914R002100120038-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 18
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 14, 2008
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: May 3, 1982
• Content Type: MEMO

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C O. munication
Agency
Unified States of America
MAY 3
The Honorable
William J. Casey
Director, Central Intelligence Agency
FROM: Charles Z. W
Director
SUBJECT: "Soviet Propaganda Alert Number 6"
Enclosed is the sixth issue of "Soviet Propaganda Alert"
produced by our Office of Research.
In March and early April, the Soviets:
Continued to deny their involvement in chemical/
biological warfare (CBW). As more evidence emerges
of their use or support of CBW, the Soviets have
increased attacks on the U.S. for alleged use of
CBW in Vietnam, Pakistan,'Afghanistan, Cuba, and
o Claimed that the U.S. plans to exploit the Argentine
seizure of the Falkland Islands in order to establish
military bases in the South Atlantic.
o Used the Brezhnev moratorium proposal of March 17 as
the centerpiece for their propaganda on arms talks.
Peace movements in Europe and the U.S. were character-
ized as supporting the Soviet position. President
Reagan's March 31 press conference and Secretary
of State Haig's April 6 Georgetown speech were cited
as duplicitous justifications for U.S. attempts to
gain military superiority and for the first use of
nuclear weapons.
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owet Pytopaganda Alert
No. 6 April 26, 1982
Summary
In March and April, Soviet external propaganda has stressed:
o Chemical and Biological Warfare. Soviets continued to
deny vehemently that they have any involvement whatever in
chemical/biological warfare (CEW). Attacks on the U.S.
for alleged past and present use of CBW in many parts of
the world--including Vietnam, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cuba,
and even the USSR--have increased in frequency. As more
evidence emerges of Soviet use or support of CBW, the more
strident have become Soviet assaults an the U.S.
o Arms Control and Peace Movements. The Brezhnev moratorium
proposal of March 17 has formed the centerpiece of Soviet
propaganda. Peace movements in Europe and the U.S. have
been emphasized and played as if they completely support
Soviet positions. President Reagan's March 31st press con-
ference and Secretary of State Haig's Georgetown speech of
April 6 have been cited as duplicitous justifications for
U.S. attempts to gain military superiority and for the first
use of nuclear weapons.
o Falklands and Latin America. Soviets claim that the U.S.
plans to exploit the Argentine seizure of the Falkland (Mal-
vina) Islands in order to establish military bases in the
South Atlantic. Other charges include alleged American sub-
version of Nicaragua and Cuba, collusion in the Guatemalan
coup, and support of "bloody, repressive" regimes in Honduras
and El Salvador.
o Espionage, Plots, and Warmongering. In several other parts
of the world the CIA stands accused of spying (Greece) and
plotting coups (Iran, Zimbabwe), while American militarists
purportedly are bringing Korea and Japan ever closer to war.
Face of Research
International Communication Agency
Washington, D.C.
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CHEMICAL-BIOLOGICAL WARFARE
The two main foci of Soviet propaganda in March and April have
been chemical/biological warfare (CBW) and nuclear arms talks.
The primary purpose in the first theme remains to defend the
USSR from charges that it is guilty of using chemical weapons in
Afghanistan and of supporting chemical warfare in Southeast Asia.
The more persuasive the American case against the Soviet Union
has become, the more vituperative and hysterical has been the
Soviet assault against the U.S. on this issue.
"A Lie Remains a Lie"
In the face of growing evidence demonstrating Soviet supplying of
"Yellow Rain" in Southeast Asia and use of mycotoxins in Afghani-
stan, the only Soviet response has been a blanket denial of any
wrongdoing. TASS (March 22) gave the typical line:
The fables about "Yellow Rains" in Asia and about "mycotoxins"
of, allegedly, Soviet make--the fables meant for American
.philistines--are nothing but dirty lies which cannot cast a
slur on the honest and consistent line of the Soviet Union,
which, distinct from the United States, was among the first
to join the 1925 Geneva protocol banning the use of chemical
weapons. . . . [The USSR] never used warfare toxic agents
anywhere.
Summoning up his indignation, TASS political observer Iuri Kornilov
proclaimed: "As to all sorts of inventions of the CIA around
which Washington launches another propaganda hullaballoo, it can
be said that a lie remains a lie no matter how many times it is
repeated."
Attempted Refutation of U.S. Charges
TASS analyst Askold Biriukov (April 6) added to his denials the
following:
The groundlessness of the claims made by the leading figures of
the U.S. administration is obvious. International experts on
chemical weapons and skilled medical personnel from different
international organizations have more than once debunked the
allegations about Soviet chemical weapons cooked up in the
Washington kitchen of pyschological warfare.
According to Ririukov, a team of U.N. experts had visited Pakistan
and reported on their findings.
The experts investigated the claims of Western, primarily
American, propaganda about the "use" of these weapons in
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Afghanistan and unanimously concluded that they were not cor-
roborated by facts. Some time earlier the same conclusion
had been made by U.N. experts who had investigated the false
assertions?about,"the use of chemical weapons of Soviet make"
in Kampuchea.
The fact that, no final report has been issued by the U.N. team
that visited Pakistan has not deterred Soviet media from claiming
exoneration by these outside observers.
Pointing the Finger
Soviet propagandists have felt that the best defense against U.S.
accusations on chemical warfare is to go over to the offense. .
Soviet media are full of charges against the U.S. for its alleged
use of chemical or biological warfare in nearly every corner of
the world.
In particular, Soviets blast the American involvement in Vietnam.
"There are numerous facts and even the Secretary of Health and
Human Services, Richard Schweiker, had to admit that over 45
million quarts of various chemical substances were aerosol-sprayed
over ?Vi-etnames"e' territory" ? (Radio Moscow, April 6) .
In nearly every attack, Soviets cite statistics. For example,
Radio Moscow observer Igor Aleksandrov recounted (April 6):
According to conservative estimates, the United States armed
forces ..used over 100,000 tons of chemical substances. American
bombers sprayed the defoliant Agent.Orange known for its high
toxicity. As a matter of fact, over 2 million Vietnamese civ
ilian'; suffered. "Tens of thousands of GIs also became the vic-
tims. Considerable damage was inflicted on the economy. -Seventy
percent of the coconut groves in South Vietnam were wiped out,
together with 375,000 acres.of tropical plants. ..
A Krasnaia zvezda publicist, A. Leontiev, was even more detailed
.in an item entitled "Poisoners' Orgy" (March 24).
In Vietnam alone American aircraft sprayed over 100,000 tons of
toxins, as a result of which 43 percent of cultivable land and
44 percent of the forests suffered and 70 percent of coconut
groves and 150,000 hectares of topical vegetation were destroyed.
But his clincher was a claim rarely repeated even in Soviet media:
"Tens of thousands of Vietnamese-died and the health of almost 2
million was ruined" (emphasis added). Only TASS back in February
and, surprisingly, Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko on his trip to
Yugoslavia in early April have made similar claims about massive
loss of life in Vietnam due to American chemical weapons.-
Beyond Vietnam, claim Soviet propagandists, targets of American
CBW over the years include Cuba, Afghanistan, Korea, Namibia, and
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the USSR itself. Krasnaia zvezda's Leontiev, in his March 24
diatribe, wrote that "American intelligence agent R. Albertson,
who took part in the intervention in the north of Soviet Russia
in 1919, admitted [in a book]: 'We used. chemical munitions
against the Bolsheviks.'" Leontiev further stated that "in the
early fifties the United States used chemical weapons in Korea"
and that "American toxins are killing women and children in
Namibia . . . ."
A recent lengthy piece in Literaturnaia gazeta (March 24) by Iona
Andronov, a follow-up to his article on the same subject in Litera-
turnaia gazeta No. 5 for 1982, described in great detail purported
U.S. biological warfare activities. Andronov accused the U.S. of
searching the world for exotic poisons to use on various peoples
and individuals. Among these poisonous substances were the gall
bladder of a crocodile from Tanganyika (1962); "Chondo-dendron
Toxicoferum" from the Amazon jungle, curare, and Venezuelan encepho-
myelitis (all 1966); and "oyster toxin" from Alaska. This does not
even include the "killer mosquitoes" supposedly used by the U.S.
in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the 1980s (the focus of Andronov's
article) and the many plagues allegedly visited upon Cuba.
At Fort Detrick, Maryland, the CIA and U.S. Army have, according to
Andronov, invented and stored 37 types of bacteriological weapons.
On occasion these toxins are employed, as when "the Fort Detrick
poisoners killed dozens of prisoner guinea pigs" during the Korean
War. And in February 1982, stated Andronov, Salvadoran rebels
were subjected to aircraft bombings with American "hemorrhagic
conjunctivitis powder."
Still. to come, in the view of Soviet propagandists, is use of Ameri-
can chemical weapons in Europe. Thus, Izvestiia (March 28) carries
four separate articles by correspondents in Bonn, Rome, London, and
Washington--all in a full-page feature entitled "The Pentagon's Gas
Chambers"--which imply or declare that there exist "U.S. plans to
use chemical weapons in Europe."
The most provocative charges along these lines came in a story by
Aleksandr Liutii for TASS English (April 6). He claimed that a high
Pentagon official "confirmed" that the U.S. has "launched active
preparations. for chemical and germ warfare" and that
the U.S. administration could not and was not going to rely on
arms.control, including that in the field of chemical weapons,
and emphasized that the United States should constantly threaten
the Soviet Union in that field, regarding chemical war as an in-
tegral part of any conflict.
According to Liutii, this Pentagon official stated that 14 percent of
the Pentagon's "chemical budget"--$705 million for the next fiscal
year--will go for production of 155mm artillery. binary shells, which
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the U.S. military plans to site in the territories of its allies
in Western Europe, "thus turning the continent's nations into
[U.S.] chemical hostages."
The obvious intent of all these charges, besides diverting attention
away from Soviet use of chemical weapons, is to sway world public
opinion against the United States and to drive wedges between the
U.S. and its European partners.
See the next alert--on Soviet disinformation--for more on CBW.
The other most important theme of Soviet propaganda in this
period has involved U.S.-Soviet negotiations on controlling
nuclear arms, especially in Europe, and the peace movements in
America and Europe.
The Brezhnev Moratorium
.Dominating Soviet discussions of this issue has been President
Brezhnev's speech at the 17th Congress of USSR Trade Unions
announcing a unilateral Soviet moratorium on the deployment of.
medium-range SS-20 nuclear missiles in the European USSR. In
return for this "freeze," Brezhnev called on the U.S. and NATO
to forego deployment of new Pershing II and cruise missiles in-
,West Europe.
Brezhnev's freeze offer was apparently a direct response to
President Reagan's zero option plan put forth November 18, 1981
and rejected out of hand by the Soviets. Saying that the "Soviet
leadership has once again shown an example of goodwill" (Radio
Moscow, March 16), Soviet propagandists have trumpeted this "new
initiative" as the best starting point for arms control talks on
intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) in Europe. Soviet com-
mentators have carefully avoided noting that the USSR continues
to deploy SS-20s to the east of the Urals, whence they can easily
reach targets in West Europe.
Spokesmen like Georgii Arbatov of the USA Institute (Manchester
Guardian, March 22) have also taken pains to deny that Brezhnev
threatened to place nuclear weapons in Cuba when he said in his
speech that, if the U.S. and NATO governments went ahead with
deployment of their new European missiles, the USSR would be
compelled to take measures in reply which would put the other
side, including the U.S. and its territory, in an analogous
position.
Much attention in Soviet propaganda has been devoted to the nega-
tive American reaction to Brezhnev's proposals. "Washington
fears the principle of equality and like security because it
stands in the way of its arms drive," was the way commentator
Igor Dmitriev put it on Radio Moscow's World Service in English
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Soviet propagandists have tried to use the freeze proposal to
bring pressure on the U.S. to begin strategic arms talks. Thus,
Vladimir Bogachev has written (TASS English, March 18):
Reagan's statement that the production of nuclear arms should
not simply be frozen, that the already existing huge levels
should be lowered can evoke only perplexity. For it was
Washington that rejected the SALT II treaty providing for a
substantial reduction of strategic arms. It is the present
U.S. administration that under various pretexts and referring
to the need of "finalizing the position" of the United States
is delaying the resumption of Soviet-American talks on the
limitation or reduction of strategic arms.
In Soviet eyes, the aim to obtain leverage may be working. "It
should be noted," according to Bogachev, "that on encountering
the sharp opposition of the world public opinion, Washington was
forced to moderate its tone and make its assessments of the new
Soviet initiatives less categorical." Virtually every Soviet
commentary on arms control questions finds it necessary to refer
to the antiwar and antinuclear movements in Europe and the U.S.
as evidence of support for their own positions.
The Peace Movements and Western "Freeze" Initiatives
In fact, Moscow has tried to make much capital out of peace move-
ments-in both Europe and America. Most of its propaganda on arms
control is addressed directly to those engaged in the movements.
Thus, wrote Vasilii Kharkov (TASS English, April 9):
In Britain, Belgium, Holland, Denmark and other West European
countries, mass manifestations against the Pentagon's nuclear
madness, for talks, and not confrontation, with the Soviet
Union, are characterized by a variety of forms used, the mass
scale and coordination of action by different antiwar and
pacifist organizations.
That many participants in the marches direct their negative senti-
ments toward Soviet arms as well is, of course, passed over in
silence by Soviet analysts. They prefer to see all the demonstra-
tions as a show of the "determination of the West European peoples
to avoid being used as the Pentagon's nuclear hostages."
Particularly noteworthy is the fact that the Soviet chief of
staff, Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov, has recently called for a crack-
down on pacifism within the Soviet Union. In his booklet en-
titled Always Ready to Defend the Fatherland, published in late
February, Marshal Ogarkov criticized some of the younger genera-
tion of Soviets for a "false sense of peace, complacency and
pacifism" and urged Party propagandists to "struggle against
such elements."
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A source of some surprise and pleasure for Soviet propagandists
is the fact that the "current antiwar movement in the USA has a
broader basis than.in the years of the war in Vietnam," involving
"not only the youth but also the 'average American,' moderate sec-
tions of the population, church circles, organizations of physi-
cians, lawyers, businessmen, and finds support in political circles
and the U.S. Congress" (Ivan Ablamov, TASS English, April 12).
Of particular interest to Soviet commentators has been the freeze
proposal advanced by Senators Kennedy and Hatfield. Although
this proposal has both "good and bad qualities," in the words of
radio commentator Oleg Anichkin (Moscow Domestic, April 9), it
is a good indication of the growing resistance to the arms race
in the U.S. What no Soviet propagandist will do, however, is
endorse such mutual freeze proposals, because that would also
mean an end to Moscow's massive arms buildup..
"The war opponents in the West," claimed TASS's Ablamov, "clearly
see that, while the Soviet Union advances numerous constructive
initiatives, Washington rejects them outright without even getting
around to studying them attentively."
"Strange Speech" on The Military Balance
Soviet propagandists were quick to pick up on President Reagan's
March 31st news conference statement that the USSR had a margin
of superiority in nuclear weapons. Valentin Zorin, a prominent
television and radio analyst, called this "fresh proof. that some
really high-ranking United States officials don't feel bound to
stick to the truth when they address their fellow countrymen."
He accused Reagan of making this statement "obviously to try and
keep in check the mounting public demand in his own country for
freezing the existing levels of nuclear arms . . . ." (Moscow
Radio English, April 10).
Vladimir Bogachev (TASS English, April 9) claimed that "[in] the
past,'when making similar statements, the President himself and
members of his administration.got away with it. This time, however,
Ronald Reagan's statement has given rise to a stormy reaction in
.the country." According to Zorin and Bogachev, Senators Moynihan
and Jackson have categorically rejected the President's charge,
and even earlier statements by Alexander Haig and Caspar Weinberger
refute Reagan.
"The President's closest staff members tried to come to Reagan's
aid," averred Bogachev, "hinting that the President in his strange
speech meant only individual types of Soviet armaments." But the
American public will not be fooled, in the view of this Soviet:
"broad masses of people in the United States [take the statement]
as evidence of the. administration's refusal to heed the Soviet
Union's new peace proposals and as the administration's refusal to
conduct constructive negotiations on limiting and reducing nuclear
arms."
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Haig "Falsifications" and the Foreign Affairs Article
Secretary of State Alexander Haig's speech on arms control at
the Georgetown University Center for Strategic and International
Studies on April 6 evoked strong response from Soviet propagan-
dists. Haig "resorted to the open falsification of commonly
known facts to cover up the aggressive character" of U.S. policy,
wrote TASS analyst Igor Orlov (April 7). This speech, in Orlov's
report, reaffirmed a U.S. program of nuclear arms buildup "which
in fact relies on the admissibility of nuclear war and includes
the possibility of delivering the first nuclear strike."
According to Soviet commentators, the Haig speech was an attempt
to deal a "pre-emptive strike" to a forthcoming article in the
journal Foreign Affairs by four former top U.S. officials (George
Kennan, McGeorge Bundy, Robert MacNamara, and Gerard Smith). This
article argues for, among other things, U.S. renunciation of first
use of nuclear weapons.
INF Talks at Geneva and MBFR at Vienna
Not surprisingly, Soviet propaganda has claimed all justice for
the Soviet side's positions at Geneva and none for the U.S.
stance. Thus, P. Viktorov wrote in Pravda (March 12):
Comparing the Soviet plan for nuclear disarmament in Europe
with President R. Reagan's so-called "zero option," interna-
tional commentators note that the USSR has displayed a desire
to make the Geneva talks purposive and constructive and has
taken a major step in the direction of solving one of today's
most acute problems.
The U.S. approach, however, presupposes talks which would lead
to a limitation of the other side's arms without affecting its
own armaments. Washington wants only those armaments whose
limitation or liquidation would benefit the United States and
NATO to come under scrutiny.
At Vienna, the socialist countries have tabled "an important in-
itiative," according to TASS (April 9), but the West has avoided
discussion of this document. The reason: NATO and "above all
the United States" want to push on with the arms race and establish
"military superiority over the USSR and its allies."
It is precisely this course which is stalling the Geneva talks
on nuclear arms limitation in Europe. It is precisely this
course which is raising obstructions on the way to agreement
in Vienna. . . . This course is shortsighted and unwise .
irresponsibility and fanning the nuclear and conventional arms
race could end in tragedy.
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U.S. "Madness"
The root cause for all problems in the arms control process are
to be found in Washington's policies, according to Soviet commen-
tators. These. charges against the U.S. have become increasingly
bitter in recent weeks. Typical of the Soviet attacks is an art-
icle in the journal Selskaia zhizn (March 13) entitled "Madness
as a Policy." In this piece Nikolai Pastukhov wrote: "Real
awareness of the terrible danger which is:hanging over the planet
through the fault of Washington's insane policy is giving rise
to a growing protest movement among the broadest. circles of the.
international public against the militarist forces' criminal
course."
Pastukhov summed up the current situation as.follows: "The threat
to peace and universal security emanates from the present American
administration, that champion of the U.S. military-industrial
complex interests, which has elevated madness to the rank of its
official policy."
FALKLANDS CRISIS AND LATIN AMERICA
While for most of this period Soviet propaganda has, concentrated
on charges of U.S. plots against Nicaragua, Cuba, and other Latin
American nations, the Argentine seizure of the Falkland Islands
has provided it with a major new theme.
The U.S. Desires a Foothold in the Falklands
At first rather neutral on U.S. involvement in the crisis, more
recent commentary from the USSR now includes charges that the U.S.
is "trying to exploit the dispute" for its own aims (Krasnaia
zv ezd a, April 2). The U.S. goal, according to Radio Moscow (in
Spanish, April 14), is to establish military bases on the Falk-
lands and to control the South Atlantic (TASS, April 13).
Soviet propaganda has also begun to claim a definite pro-British
slant to U.S. activity in the crisis (e.g., A. Maslennikov, Pravda,
April 12). The USSR, meanwhile, has shown a tendency to support
the Argentines in the dispute, largely by criticizing British
"threats" smacking of colonialism (TASS English, April 9). Soviets'
attempt at "evenhandedness" in the dispute is shown by their use
of both the Argentine (Malvinas) and the British (Falklands) names
for the islands in most stories.
Reagan's Caribbean Initiative
Overshadowed in April by the new crisis, President Reagan's Carib-
bean Basin Initiative (CRI) still continued to draw fire from Soviet
propagandists. TASS English (April 9) charged:
The "economic program" which is being imposed on the Caribbean
countries is nothing more than a cover-up for Washington's
aggressive aspirations and sinister designs against the pro-
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gressive countries of the region, such as Cuba, Nicaragua, and
Grenada. It is also designed to assure the exploitation of
manpower and natural resources.of the region by American.mono-
pol ies.
And just what are these "aggressive aspirations and sinister de-
signs"? In order to solidify "its military and'economic positions"
in the region, the U.S. will pour huge amounts of money into the
"bloody Salvadoran junta" and the "anti-people dictatorships of
Honduras and Haiti." These funds, according to TASS English (April
11), "will be used for armed suppression of democratic forces in-
side these countries and for staging from their territories sub-
versive operations against Nicaragua, Grenada, and other sovereign
states."
"Gunboat Diplomacy" and Other "Desperate Attempts"
Apropos of NATO naval maneuvers in the Gulf of Mexico in March,
Komsomolskaia pravda correspondent R. Gabdullin wrote that "in
an attempt to trample on centers of the revolutionary movement
in Latin America, Washington is again pursuing a 'gunboat
diplomacy' which runs contrary to common sense" (March 16).
Repeating a charge leveled by Guatemalan revolutionaries, TASS
English (March 26) stated: "The military coup in Guatemala is a
desperate attempt of the Washington administration and the reac-
tionary Guatemalan military to save the repressive pro-imperialist
regime against which the whole people is waging struggle."
The U.S., in the Soviet view, is most anxious to sustain the cur-
rent "repressive" regimes in Guatemala and Honduras in order to
have bases for launching subversion against revolutionary Nicaragua.
TASS correspondent Sergei Gorbunov has written (April 1) of U.S.
plans to reconstruct air bases in Honduras to handle American
combat planes, "thus preparing conditions for armed intervention
against revolutionary Nicaragua."
TASS commentator Ruslan Kniazev alleged on March 26 that
behind the smokescreen of a vociferous slander campaign about
the Nicaraguans' 'intervention' in the Salvadoran conflict . . .
the United States is steadily building up its military muscle in
Central America and the Caribbean and escalating preparations
for extensive subversive activities against revolutionary
Nicaragua.
The other main target of the U.S. in Latin America, say Soviet ana-
lysts, is Cuba. When a group of U.S.-based Cuban exiles called
Alfa-66 was recently tried in Cuba, Literaturnaia gazeta correspond-
ent Vladimir Vesenskii wrote at length out Washington's alleged
"interest in Alfa," foreknowledge of Alfa-66's attempt to assassin-
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ate members of the Cuban government, and, thus, collusion in inter-
national terrorism. Vesenskii concluded that Washington intended
to "use gangs of this kind as the first echelon, as cover for the
agents of the CIA and other American special services, who are al-
lotted the main role in preparing assassinations and major acts of
sabotage, such as a biological attack, for instance . . . .".
The elections in El Salvador in March also provided grist for Soviet
propaganda mills. These were a "foul election farce," cried Novoe
vremia (April 2), "staged by the Salvadoran ruling junta to a
script prepared in the White House." The U.S. allegedly had much
riding on the Salvadoran elections:
It was hoped in Washington that the very fact of elections held
will help improve the reputation of this blood-stained regime
which has made murder an instrument of political struggle. It
was also hoped that elections will help end the growing inter-
national isolation of the Salvadoran -regime and become an argu-
ment to persuade American congressmen . . . that there is nothing
reprehensible in this support because it is support to a "duly
elected government."
OTHER REGIONS, OTHER COUNTRIES
No Soviet catalog of American perfidy in the world could be com-
plete without some mention of such additional areas as the Far East,
Mideast; Africa,. and Europe. In this period, Soviet accusations
of U.S. interference, pressure, and other malefactions centered on
Korea, Greece, Iran, and Zimbabwe.
"Aggressive Intrigues" in South Korea
Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger's trip through the Far East
in March and April. occasioned several Soviet attacks on U.S.-.policy
in the Pacific region. A North Korean foreign ministry statement
picked up by TASS English (April 7) "firmly condemns U.S. aggres-
sive intrigues in South Korea as a brazen challenge to the peace-
loving Korean people and as actions aimed at undermining peace in
Asia and throughout the world."
Describing U.S.-Korean plans for continued mutual assistance and
military aid, TASS English charged: "Thereby Washington fully re-
vealed its plans of perpetuating American military-political con-
trol" of Korea and of using that nation as a "springboard of the
United States to blackmail and pressure the independent states
of the Far East and Southeast Asia" (March 30).
The United States was also condemned more generally for its
"secret deals" with the People's Republic of China--threatening
the USSR, Afghanistan, and world peace; its past "genocide"
against the Vietnamese; and its pressure on Japan to increase
its military activities and spending.
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CIA Espionage in Greece
A strike of teachers employed at the U.S. cultural center in
Athens led to discovery of some U.S. documents allegedly re-
vealing the center as a hotbed of espionage. Documents of the
International Communication Agency, "under whose cover CIA of-
ficials actively operate," showed that "the main purpose of the
American 'Cultural Center' in Athens is 'penetration of military,
parliamentary, diplomatic and administrative circles' of Greece."
(TASS English, April 1).
The lesson to be learned in all this, according to Soviet com-
mentators, is that "U.S. intelligence services might push the
forces of the right into stepping up their aLctivities, as hap-
pened in the past when the black colonels came to-power in Greece
with the assistance of the United States in April 1967."
U.S. Policy Against Zimbabwe
Conspirators planning to overthrow the government of the republic
of Zimbabwe who were arrested by state security organs have been
shown to be "closely linked with Western special services, specif-
ically of the United States and Britain"--this according to TASS
English (March 27).
In addition, charged TASS commentator Sergei Kulik, "the U.S.-
dominated International Monetary Fund and transnational companies
are especially active in carrying out anti-Zimbabwe measures"
(April 7). In sum, said Kulik, "Zimbabwe has been added to the
list of independent African countries against which the Reagan
administration is pursuing a policy of an 'undeclared war'."
Conjoined with these charges concerning Zimbabwe have been other
Soviet accusations of U.S. plots against Chad, U.S. backing for
"new aggression planned-by the racist Republic of South Africa
against People's Angola," and a CIA coup plan in Ghana.
U.S. Plots in Iran
Iranian security forces have, according to Soviet reports, discov-
ered an antiregime plot backed by the CIA. The plotters planned
to "stir up unrest among various strata of Iranian society, kidnap
state figures, plant bombs, and so forth."
Radio Moscow (Persian,.March 23) commented on these events thus.:
In September last year Alexander Haig explicitly said that
everything will be done to return Iran to the ranks of Western
society. Washington is substantiating these shameless remarks
by the U.S. Secretary of State with its dirty and rude actions.
The new plot of the counterrevolutionaries discovered in Iran,
and which was directed by U.S. spy masters, is further con-
firmation of this.
(over)
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12
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Listed below are representative Soviet press and.TASS its on thanes
discussed in this report. Translations or summaries of virtually all
appeared in the FBIS Daily Report (Soviet Union) in late March and
early April.
"Shifting the Blame" by Iurii Kornilov, TASS English, Mar. 18.
"International Echoes" (including article by Iona Andronov: "The
Secrets of Germ Warfare--Why Does the CIA Need Mosquitoes and Croco-
diles?"), Literaturnaia gazeta, Mar. 24.
"Publicist's Notes": "Poisoners' Orgy".by A. Leontiev, Krasnaia zvezda,
"The Pentagon's Gas Chambers" (comprising four articles:.. "Deadly
Contents" by A. Grigoriants in Bonn; "'Humanitarians' in Gas Masks"
by A. Palladin in Washington; "Eloquent Silence" by N. Paklin; and
"Open Secret" by V. Skosyrev in London), Izvestiia, Mar. 28.
"[Askold] Biriukov Assails Claims on Soviet CW Use," TASS English,
Apr. 6.
"Misinformers Caught Redhanded: The Forgery That Did Not Pay Off" by
A. Akhmedzianov, Izvestiia, Apr. 6.
"TASS Cites Pentagon Official on CW Plans" by Aleksandr Liutii, TASS
English, Apr..6.
"Moscow Responds to Chemical Weapons Allegations" by Igor Aleksandrov,
Radio Moscow English, Apr. 11.
"TASS Claims CW Evidence Fabricated" by Askold Biriukov, TABS English,
Apr. 13.
ARMS CONTROL & PEACE MOVEMENT
Commentary by Vladislav Koziakov, Radio Moscow English, Mar. 16.
"Two Approaches to International Security" by Vladimir Bogachev,
TABS English, Mar. 16.
"TABS: Reagan Rejects. Kennedy-Hatfield Resolution," TABS English,
Mar. 16.
"International Diary" Program with Evgenii Kachanov and Gennadii
Arievich, Radio Moscow Domestic, Mar. 18.
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'Topical Problems of International Life" Program with Nikolai Shishlin,
Radio Moscow Domestic, Mar. 18.
Commentary by Leonid Ponanarev, TASS English, Mar. 18.
"Washington's Confused Reaction" by Vladimir Bogachev, TASS English,
Mar. 18.
Commentary by Sergei Losev, Radio Moscow English, Mar. 18.
Commentary by Igor Dmitriev, Radio Moscow Pbrldwide English, Mar. 19.
"Pravda Comments on Soviet Peace Proposals," TABS in Pravda, Mar. 19.
"An Observer's Opinion: Enlightenment is Inevitable: More and More
Americans Agree with J. Reston that. the President. is Leading the
Country to Disaster Both at Home and Abroad" by Vitalii Kobysh,
Literaturnaia gazeta, Mar. 31.
Commentary by Iurii Kornilov, Sovetskaia Rossiia (TASS), Apr. 8.
"Slogans ttfiich Unite Millions" by Vasilii Kharkov, TASS English, Apr. 9.
"International Situation: Questions and Answers" with Valerii Kosovan,
Oleg Anichkin, and Konstantin Semenov, Moscow Radio Domestic, Apr. 9.
"TABS Analyzes Lack of MBFR Talks Progress," TABS, Apr. 9.
"TASS Sees Growing Antiwar Movement in Vest" by Ivan Ablamov, TABS
English, April 12.
FALKLANDS CRISIS AND LATIN AMERICA
"Our Commentary: NATO 'Games' in the Gulf of Mexico" by R. Gabdullin,
Komsanolskaia pravda, Mar. 16.
"The United States Against Cuba: 100 Meters from Via Blanca" by.
Vladimir Vesenskii, Literaturnaia gazeta, Mar. 24.
"Hands off Nicaragua!" by Ruslan Kniazev, TABS English, Mar. 26.
"Reportage of Guatemalan Military Coup," TABS English, Mar. 2.6.
"U.S. Draws Honduras Into Central American Plans" by Sergei Gorbunov,
TABS English, Apr. 1.
"El Salvador: Elections to the White House's Script," TASS English
report of Apr. 2 Novoe vremia item, Mar. 31.
"Not Averse to Warming Their Hands," Krasnaia zvezda (TABS), Apr. 2.
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"Aggravating Tension," TASS English, Apr. 6,.
"The Washington Post's Fabrications," Izvestiia, Apr. 6.
"Nicaraguan Interior Minister on U.S. Aggression," TASS English, Apr. 7.
Commentary by Vladimir Korotkov, Radio Moscow English, Apr. 7.
"Intent of Reagan's Caribbean Initiative Assessed," TASS English,
Apr. 9.
"Colonialist Threats," TASS English, Apr. 9.
"A Relapse of Gunboat Diplanacy," TASS English, Apr. 11 (based on
story by Boris Kotov.in Pravda, Apr. 11).
Commentary by Aleksandr Liutii, TASS English, Apr. 11.
"A Dangerous Frenzy" by A. Maslennikov, Pravda, Apr. 12.
"U.S. Activity, Motives in Falklands Area Viewed," TASS, Apr. 1
Commentary by Vladimir Korotkov, Radio Moscow English, Apr. 13.
OTHER REGIONS, OTHER COUNTRIES
"Who is Inflaming the Conflict in Chad" by Vladimir Korochantsev,
Selskaia zhizn, Mar. 2.
TASS on CIA Coup Plans," TASS English, Mar. 15.
"The Pentagon's Helpers" byIu. Vdovin, Pravda, Mar. 25.
"The Far East: The Limits of Common Sense," TASS English, Mar. 26.
"CIA's 'Phoenix' Program in Vietnam Termed, Genocide," TASS English,
Mar. 26.
"Weinberger Visit to South Korea Assessed," TASS English, Mar. 30.
Commentary by Boris Andriianov, Radio Moscow Domestic, Mar. 30.
"U.S. 'Cultural Center' in Athens Espionage Site," TASS English, Apr. 1.
"Zigzags of U.S. Policy in the Pacific" by A. Vlasov, Pravda, Apr. 2
(also, similar story with sane. title in TASS English, Apr. 2).
Commentary by Viktor Sivakov, Radio Moscow English, Apr. 5..
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"Diametrically Opposite Approaches" by Vasill Kharkov, TASS Dlglish,
Apr. 5.
"With Background of Planned Aggression" by Sergei Kulik, TASS English,
Apr. 6.
"Zimbabwe--A New Target of U.S. Provocation" by Sergei Kulik, TASS
English, Apr. 7.
"U.S. Linked With Plan to Oust Zimbabwe Government," TASS English, Mar. 27.
"Documents Confirm CIA Activities in Greece" by Vladimir Kapov, Radio
Moscow Greek, Apr. 7.
"DPRK Condemns U.S. 'Intrigues' in South Korea," TASS English, Apr. 7.
Prepared by: PQ4/P Staff
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