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RESOLUTION

Resolved, by the Internal Security Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, That the testimony of Alexandr Yurievich Kaznacheyev given in executive session on December 14, 1959, with the consent of the witness, be printed and made public.

JAMES O. EASTLAND.

THOMAS J. DODD.
JOHN L. MCCLELLAN.
OLIN D. JOHNSTON.
EVERETT M. DIRKSEN.
ROMAN HRUSKA.
SAM J. ERVIN, Jr.
K. B. KEATING.

DECEMBER 14, 1959.

III

SOVIET INTELLIGENCE IN ASIA

MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1959

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE ADMINISTRATION
OF THE INTERNAL SECURITY ACT AND OTHER INTERNAL

SECURITY LAWS, OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY,

Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:25 a.m., in room 2300, New Senate Office Building, Senator Thomas J. Dodd presiding. Also present: J. G. Sourwine, chief counsel.

Senator DODD. Will you stand? Will you raise your right hand? Do you solemnly swear the testimony you give before this subcommittee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes, sir; I swear.

TESTIMONY OF ALEKSANDR YURIEVICH KASNAKHEYEV

Mr. SOURWINE. Would you give the reporter your full name, please? Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. My name is Aleksandr Kasnakheyev.

Mr. SOURWINE. Where were you born?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. I was born in Moscow, April 25, 1932.

Mr. SOURWINE. Your father was an electrical engineer employed as an electronics specialist by the Radio Institute of the Academy of Science?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Your mother was originally a nurse but studied and received a doctor's degree in 1941 as a general practitioner but never actually practiced medicine?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you have any brothers and sisters?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. No.

Mr. SOURWINE. Are you married?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Divorced.

Mr. SOURWINE. And you have one son?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Are you a member of the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R.?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. No.

Mr. SOURWINE. Were you formerly a member of the CP, U.S.S.R.?
Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. No.

Mr. SOURWINE. You never were a member of the Communist Party?
Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. No; I was a member of the Komsomol.
Mr. SOURWINE. That is the Communist organization?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Did you consider yourself as a Communist?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. No.

Mr. SOURWINE. You did not. Did you ever serve in Soviet intelligence?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. You defected from the Soviet service?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. When was that?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. It was on June 24 this year.

Mr. SOURWINE. Will you tell us why you made that break?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. There are different reasons. The main one is that I hated communism, especially the Communist regime that exists in the Soviet Union, as I consider it to be evil and its existence to be harmful for my motherland and my own Russian people. This is the first reason of my hatred of communism.

I was in position to give some small modest contribution to struggle for freedom of my own people as I worked in Soviet Embassy and Soviet intelligence and exposure of deeds of Soviet Government and Soviet intelligence in southeast Asia, and the very fact of my defection can be a small contribution, my contribution to struggle of my own people for freedom and independence.

The second reason was that I felt myself to like the country of assignment, Burma. I like that country, and my liking put upon me some sort of obligation to that country. I felt myself in position to help Burmese people to preserve their freedom and independence. So that was the second of my reasons. Another of my reasons was that I know the struggle of all free world and free nations aaginst communism. I wanted to participate in that struggle.

Mr. SOURWINE. It appears that you make a firm distinction in your mind between the U.S.S.R. and Russia. This is true; is it not?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes, between Soviet Government and Communist Party as they represented Communist regime in the Soviet Union and people of the country. I make very great distinction between them.

Mr. SOURWINE. The U.S.S.R. in your view is not Russian?
Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. No.

Mr. SOURWINE. Do you consider the Russian people as one of the subject peoples of the U.S.S.R?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes; I consider Russian people to be the first captive nation, the first victim of communism that suffered the most, perhaps more than any other nation, and that continued to suffer most from communism. And I know my own experience that the Russian nation, people, the Russians, among all the peoples of the Soviet Union are the first victim of communism and the first enemy of communism. Mr. SOURWINE. Will you tell us of your schooling?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. I graduated from high school in 1951.

And that was in Moscow. I studied from 1951 until 1954 in the Oriental Institut, Chinese department. Then from 1954 to 1956 I studied in International Relations Institute, the institute that belonged to the Foreign Office of the U.S.S.R. I graduated actually in 1956 but officially in 1957. I already had my bachelor's 1 year before. Mr. SOURWINE. You dropped out of school for a while in 1949; is that correct?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. And what did you do after you left school?
Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. At that time I was a so-called Stilyaga.

Mr. SOURWINE. That is a term characterizing Soviet youths ranging from juvenile delinquents and criminals to the intellectual nonconformists?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. It is a broad term.

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. It is a broad term such as Teddy Boys.
Mr. SOURWINE. The English Teddy Boys.

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes; but approximately at the end of 1949I was disillusioned with this.

Mr. SOURWINE. Are there many Stilyagi?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes; very many. It is not a movement. It is spontaneous action of youth, but quite definitely it is some sort of expression, basic expression of opposition to the regime. It is expression of disillusionment of youth, of the conditions they live in, disillusionment with the teachings of the party and all that they are as the slaves of the Communist regime.

Mr. SOURWINE. You returned to school in the fall of 1949?
Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Attended Evening School No. 49 in Moscow ?
Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Until 1951?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. 1951.

Mr. SOURWINE. When did you join the Komsomol?
Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. I joined Komsomol in 1951.

Mr. SOURWINE. In Moscow ?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. Why did you join?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. I joined Komsomol because only this could open doors of institut to me. If I wasn't member of Komsomol I couldn't get higher education. I found that approximately 30 percent of the people who entered the institut together with me, joined Komsomol only 2 or 3 months before application to the institut. I joined because of pressure from my father; it was just a necessity of life. Ninety-nine percent of youth are Komsomol. It becomes as compulsory as being citizen of the U.S.S.R. If you are a citizen of the U.S.S.R., you can't avoid being a member of Komsomol as a youth, because it is dangerous otherwise.

Mr. SOURWINE. Now your joining the Komsomol helped you to succeed in your objective of going to the Oriental Institute?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. And you went there beginning in 1951?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. And continuing until 1954?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. While you were in the Komsomol, did you ever see any instances or incidents of dissatisfaction with communism in that organization?

Mr. KASNAKHEYEV. Yes; first of all, I don't want to tie the name of Komsomol to dissatisfaction; I stress that. Komsomol, this is a compulsory organization, participation in which is compulsory for

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