Embassy claim baffles Thais

Press, 12 April 1984, Page 10

Embassy claim baffles Thais

NZPA-AFP Bangkok The Soviet secret service’spoor performance in recent months may have prompted a frustrated Moscow to “blow the whistle” on alleged Western spy activities in Thailand, observers in Bangkok said yesterday. The Soviet Embassy said on Tuesday that it had “irrefutable proof” that an Australian Embassy official and a Japanese businessman had attempted to subvert two members of the Soviet legation last week. The Soviets did not say what the proof was. The Soviet Embassy’s number two, a MinisterCounsellor, Oleg Yershov, alleged that the United States Central Intelligence Agency had been behind both members.

A senior Thai security official said yesterday that his colleagues were “trying to fathom the message Moscow is sending,” particularly in view of the timing and manner of the revelation.

Western observers said that the Kremlin may be hitting back at the United States, and its allies, as well as other nations which have expelled numerous alleged Soviet Intelligence operatives during the . last 18 months.

An Australian Embassy counsellor, Ronald Ford, was identified by the Soviets as the man who had tried to recruit a Soviet attache, Alexandre Kilim, on Thursday to sell embassy secrets to the C.I.A.