EXECUTIONS IN RUSSIA

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27664, 21 May 1955, Page 7

EXECUTIONS IN RUSSIA

Alleged Spies For Turkey MOSCOW, May 19. Three Turkish spies had been sentenced to death and shot, the official Soviet news agency, Tass. reported today. Tass said that automatic pistols of a foreign make, an American-made radio set, and other “spying implements” were found when the men were arrested. The men, described as former Soviet citizens, w£re shot on charges of treason, the agency said. Materials found on the accused included ciphers and a code for com-

munication with the “Turkish Intelligence Centre.” They also had “poison” capsules, a camera, binoculars, and a compass. A radio transmitter and receiver was found hidden in the town of Kishinev, in Moldavia.

Tass said that the three had been sent into Russia by Turkish intelligence to collect information about industrial centres, military and naval formations, airfields, and other defence objectives in the Crimea and Transcaucasia.

Two of the men, named Zeinalov and Aslanov, both Turkish citizens, had offered armed resistance when arrested.

Quoting a statement by the Soviet State Security Committee, Tass said that another had committed a criminal offence while serving in the Soviet Army and fled to the enemy side in 1942. He had been recruited as a spy after reaching Turkey in 1948 as a displaced person.