European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 15, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday november 15. 1985 the stars and stripes Page 9 Yurchenko fes Media of kidnapping defector says he was forced to sunbathe even play Golf Moscow a Vitaly Yurchenko the rep cd Kab defector who returned Home claiming he was kidnapped by . Agents thursday said he escaped when his Cia guard1 excused himself in a washing Ion restaurant to go to the men s room. Yurchenko speaking at a 2w-hour news conference repeated allegations that he was kidnapped drugged and held prisoner by the Cia. He denied that he defected willingly As is. Official maintain. He also declined to say whether he worked for the Kab As . Officials have said. He replied to questions from Western reporters about a possible affiliation with the soviet secret police and spy Agency by accusing them of working for the Cia. Pressed for a specific response Yurchenko replied i am a minister Counselor of the ministry of foreign affairs. I worked in the soviet embassy in Washington on be curly  the state department has said Yurchenko defected while in Rome on aug. I and sought Asylum in the United slates. . Officials described him As a Kab official who ran the Agency s Washington office during his tenure at the soviet embassy there from 1975-80. Yurchenko returned to the soviet Union this month after appearing at a news conference at the soviet embassy in Washington where he told reporters he Stu kidnapped while in Italy and brought to the United states where he caped. Press reports in the United states have said yur Chenko walked out of a restaurant in Washington and returned to the soviet embassy after asking the . Official with him if he would try to Stop him. Torchenko s own account thursday conformed with that report in part. On saturday nov. 2, Yurchenko said he asked one of Bis three guards at the Virginia location where he was being held to take him shopping at a department store. He identified the guard Ai Tom Hannah and said he was younger than the others and seemed to be a bit ashamed of his  Yurchenko said he was allowed to go to the men s department by himself and he quickly purchased an a photo Vitaly Yurchenko thursday describes his Captivity to reporters in Moscow overcoat a Bat and an umbrella that he planned to use to change his appearance. While in the store be said he also made a collect Call to the soviet embassy and told an official he was com ing Back. Yurchenko said he and the Man identified As Hannah went for lunch at a French restaurant 500 Yards from the soviet embassy. Tom said he would go Wash his hands Yurchenko said. "1 broke out put on my coat and hat and went to the embassy. Speaking in russian peppered with occasional English words Yurchenko repeated Many of the statements he made at his Washington news conference. He said he was kidnapped aug. I on the Steps of St. Peter s Basilica in Rome and woke up several Days later in a Washington Hospital. For two months Yurchenko said Cia officers kept him on drugs Day and night. He said the Cia tried to persuade him that he had defected and was providing them with intelligence information. I began to realize the Only Way out was to outsmart these people r a Yurchenko adding later that he began plotting an escape a few hours after he was brought to what he called a Cia Safe House in Fredericksburg va., near Washington. Yurchenko said he feared for his life and claimed he was Given drugs that affected his health. Yurchenko who appeared tanned and fit said he was now in satisfactory condition. He said the Cia forced him to sunbathe and made me go in for sports even play Golf to make him look More healthy after giving him drugs. The reputed Keg agent would not answer questions about his future in the soviet Union. Vladimir Lomeiko a foreign ministry spokesman told the news conference that no one at any time in the soviet Union had any doubts As to Vitaly  he declined to say Why if the soviets thought yur Chenko was kidnapped they said nothing about it in Public until he reappeared at the embassy. When soviet journalist olog Ebitov defected to Britain in 198the soviet Union quickly accused Western intelligence of kidnapping him. A year later after writing a series of critical articles about the soviet Union for the British press Ebitov Resur faced in Moscow at a news conference similar to Yui Chenko s. Soviets Tell different Medvid Story newspaper article claims Sailor s disorient Safion . Provocation caused new Orleans incident Moscow not a soviet newspaper offered its own torsion wednesday of the episode of a soviet sea Man who was forcibly returned to his ship near new Orleans asserting that he fell off his freighter and be came  the account in the Trade Union newspaper trud was the first soviet press article on the Case of the Sailor Miroslav Medvid. It was published once Medvid and his ship the marshal Konov were Well on their Way Back to the soviet Union with a cargo of american Grain. According to american reports the incident began oct. 24 when Medvid. A 25-year-old ukrainian jumped overboard into the Mississippi River. Within hours Bor Der agents decided to return him to the freighter despite his furious resistance. He jumped overboard again and was returned a second time. Once Back on his ship the Sailor apparently changed his mind. State department officials interviewed and examined the Sailor at length and concluded that he had decided to return to the soviet Union. The ship left american Waters Over the weekend. The trud account was a harsh attack on the United states headlined provocation in new Orleans How american authorities committed outrages on Board a soviet ship and Rich in phrases like malicious specs Cle and Brazen  to the soviet version the marshal Konov was approaching the new Orleans docks when suddenly Medvid who had been working on the Stern deck slipped badly Hurt himself and fed overboard. At first in the dark then under the Light of projection lamps the Sailor for a while lost his orientation trud said. An official american launch fished him out of the water and quickly delivered him to the gangplank of the  would seem to have been All. Thanks for the help. The nighttime incident is concluded. But on the following morning the alarm was raised. Unknown people burst unceremoniously on Board the freighter calling themselves representatives of local author  trud did not mention Mcdavid s reported struggles against the officials who returned him to his ship or his second attempt to swim to Shore. The article said the americans tried at any Price to take our Sailor from the ship tearing him away from his own Crew from his comrades and to Bend him to betray the  trud quoted at length from a report sent by the Captain r. Tkachenko after he had left the new Orleans port. The report began we Are indignant at the Brazen provocative behaviour of the american a  Tkachenko went on to say that the american authorities Over his Resolute protest had forced him to hand Over Medvid and that the Sailor was subjected to six hours of negotiations imposed by the Provo a  after that Tkachenko said without any justification our delegation was taken to a naval base in a reinforced police Convoy where the interrogation continued another 20 hours without  the provocateurs failed trud said. The soviet Sailor in his official declaration said clearly and precisely that he rejects the solicitations of the american authorities offering to let him remain in the .a., that he wants to return quickly to his  the trud report coincided with an intensive soviet Campaign to portray the United states As a country where rights Are routinely violated. The Campaign is generally regarded As an attempt by Moscow to head off attacks on the soviet human rights record at the meeting Between president Cagan and Mikhail s. Gorbachev the soviet Leader next week in Geneva. Although Medvid has not figured in the Campaign so far Vitaly s. Yurchenko the soviet spy who was said to have defected to american officials in Rome and who returned to the soviet Union last week has become the focus of Many press reports based on his Maros of Mcdild assertions that he was kidnapped drugged and manipulated by the Cia. The Cia denied the allegations. Indignant letters protesting the treatment of Yurchenko have been printed in newspapers and Citi Zens purportedly questioned on Moscow streets by television reporters have assailed Washington for the Brazen treatment of the soviet  president Reagan has voiced the suspicion that Yurchenko s defection and return were staged to Embarrass the United states before the Summit meeting