RUSSIAN DEFECTOR Close questioning on space plans

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32639, 22 June 1971, Page 17

RUSSIAN DEFECTOR Close questioning on space plans

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON, June 21.

The Soviet space scientist, Mr Anatole Fedosseiev, one of the highest-ranking Russians to defect, today faced intense questioning on military aspects of his work.

The 52-year-old engineer, who was deputy chief of the Soviet space programme, is probably the most important and best informed Soviet official to seek political asylum in the West since World War 11.

He broke away from the Soviet delegations to the Paris air show and secretly slipped into Britain' last week. British authorities revealed yesterday he had been given permission to stay. He is now hiding in the London area, and is reported to be under a 24-hour armed guard as a precaution against possible attempts to kidnap him. But the focus is shifting from the cloak-and-dagger aspects of his mysteryshrouded escape to his knowledge of Soviet space and military secrets. Debriefing sessions have already started with Mr Fedosseiev who is believed to have been intimately associated with the Luna and Soyuz programmes. Some observers said that useful information would be passed to American intelligence authorities who would be particularly interested in , the answers to three questions:

1. When will the Russians send men to the moon? 2. Do they intend to send men to Mars? 3- To what extent are the Salyut and Soyuz programmes military in nature.

It is the third question—concerning the Soviet space stations—-that is of vital interest to defence chiefs in Britain and in Washington. Can they be used to track Polaris submarines?

Some observers believe that it may soon be possible to have sensitive instruments on circling space stations plotting the paths of submarines by tracing the vast amount of heat produced by their nuclear reactors. A Soviet science writer identified as Leonid Vladimirov, who defected to Britain five years ago suggested last night the reason for Mr Fedosseiev’s move was the continuous tension at all levels of the Soviet space programme. In a television interview, he said: “They always face tight deadlines because since the first Sputnik went up in 1957 they l-ave been trying to undercut the welladvanced United States achievements.”

“The debriefing will be done in the most human form —this is the main thing which pleasantly surprised the Russian defector,” he added.

A press report said that one of the curious aspects of the affair was his defec-

tion to Britain when there was no lo ß ical reason why he should not de . briefing in Paris, It suggested that his presence in France would be an embarrassment in terms of French foreign policy, There was no confirmation that Mr Fedosseiev was staying in a London suburb with an English girl friend, as widely reported in the popular press in Britain. The Associated Press reported that the Foreign Secretary (Sir Alec DouglasHome) flew back to London

from Scotland to deal with diplomatic implications of the defection.

Previous defections have usually frozen British-Soviet relations temporarily, often leading to cancellation of cultural contacts such as theatrical exchanges. Mr Kenneth Gatland, vice-president of the British Interplanetary Society, thought that the defection might hamper future EastWest co-operation in space, including plans for a joint Soviet-American space-rescue programme.

Some commentators, however, thought that the defection might have little real effect on wider international issues.

They pointed out that Soviet Ambassador (Mr Mikhail Smirknovsky) called at the Foreign Office to press the latest Soviet plan for a five-Power nuclear summit meeting Only last Thursday, when the defection was already well known to Moscow.