SECRET
May 31 1963
MEMORANDUM FOR: The Director of Central Intelligence SUBJECT: Essential Facts of the Penkovskiy Case
1. In view of the recent publicity given the Penkovskiy case, much of which is garbled or misleading, we are presenting in the attached paper essential facts about Penkovskiy and his associates for the background information of those who have followed his reporting and those who are studying possible ramifications of the case in the sphere of Soviet politics.
[REDACTED PASSAGE]
Richard Helms
Deputy Director (Plans)
The Essential Facts of the Penkovskiy Case
1. The Penkovskiy case covered the period August 1960 through August 1962 and provided more than 8,000 pages of translated reporting, most of which constituted highly classified Soviet Ministry of Defense documents. Penkovskiy was strongly motivated to work against the present regime. On the basis of checks and counterchecks, together with our familiarity with the methods and purposes of Soviet deception operations, we have concluded that there is no evidence that this case represents planned deception, build-up for deception, fabrication, or double-agent activity. Rather it represents a most serious penetration of Soviet officialdom and one that will hurt them for years to come. We present below essential facts about Penkovskiy and his associates for the background information of those who have followed his reporting and those who are studying possible ramifications of the case in the sphere of Soviet politics.
2. Colonel Oleg Vladimirovich Penkovskiy served with distinction as a Soviet artillery officer throughout World War II. After the war he attended the Frunze Academy for two years, followed by four years at the Military-Diplomatic Academy. He then entered the Chief Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the General Staff, serving as a headquarters desk officer and subsequently as assistant military attache in Turkey in 1955 and 1956. Because of differences with his superior in Ankara, he was reassigned to the Near Eastern and Far Eastern desks in Moscow. Subsequently he attended the 1958–1959 missile refresher course for artillery officers at the Dzerzhinskiy Artillery Academy, serving as class leader. In 1960 he was placed by the GRU in the State Scientific-Technical Committee (GNTK) to perform intelligence collection functions. By the time of his arrest in September 1962, he had risen to the position of Deputy Chief of the Foreign Liaison Department of the External Relations Directorate of the GKKNR (the State Committee for Coordination of Scientific Research Work, successor organization to the GNTK).
3. By nature Col. Penkovskiy was highly intelligent, very imaginative, and supremely, perhaps even fatally, self-confident. He could never be satisfied with a merely adequate grasp of the skills required of him, or perfunctory performance of duties assigned him. He was devoted to his wife, a daughter of the late General D. A. Gaponovich, and two daughters (one still an infant). He also maintained a liaison with a younger woman in Moscow and indulged in broadminded enjoyment of the pleasures of London and Paris. A longstanding feeling that his talents were not recognized by the Soviet regime after he reached the rank of colonel (at age 31) had embittered him and doubtless contributed to his willingness to work against the Soviet regime.
4. Col. Penkovskiy came from a capable and respected family. The commander of the Belorussian Military District, General of the Army V. A. Penkovskiy, was his great uncle; the two officers seldom met however. The colonel’s father cast a shadow over his son’s career by having served with the White Army during the Revolution. This background may well have been one of the reasons that Col. Penkovskiy was not further promoted.
5. Col. Penkovskiy provided the West with intelligence from August 1960 to August 1962. During this period, three series of lengthy debriefing and briefing sessions were held with him outside the Soviet Union. Every Western intelligence requirement of any priority was covered with him during this time, and all aspects of his knowledgeability and access were explored. Over 90 percent of the approximately 5,000 pages of Russian language documentary information provided by him concerned military subjects. Roughly half of this information came from the GRU Library, while the remainder was acquired by him unofficially either in the missile and artillery headquarters of Marshal Varentsov or at the Dzerzhinskiy Academy. Documentary information on other subjects, such as Party letters and economic matters, came from the GKKNR. Col. Penkovskiy responded in some manner to every intelligence requirement levied on him.
6. Many high-ranking Soviet personalities were included in Col. Penkovskiy’s social and official contacts but, contrary to accounts in the press, there is no apparent basis for associating him with Marshal Zakharov or Party Secretary Kozlov. The following are the most important Soviet officials with whom he was closely associated:
a. General of the Army Serov. On one of Col. Penkovskiy’s trips in 1961, Serov charged him to look after Mrs. Serov and a daughter, who happened to be departing Vnukovo on the same plane with the colonel. Col. Penkovskiy became quite friendly with Serov’s daughter, while Western intelligence officers filled the Serov shopping list as part of the colonel’s job; a small gift was added for Serov. When Col. Penkovskiy returned to Moscow, he was invited to the Serov home to receive the general’s thanks, and spent some time talking with Serov.
b. Chief Marshal of Artillery Varentsov has been a close friend to Col. Penkovskiy since early in World War II, when they served together. Col. Penkovskiy was in the Varentsov home several times weekly, and had the run of Varentsov’s office.
c. Col. Penkovskiy had a large number of friends among senior artillery officers, such as Col.-Gen. G. S. Kariofilli, Varentsov’s Chief of Staff; Col. V. M. Buzinov, Varentsov’s aide-de-camp; Major General I. V. Kupin, first in the GSFG and now Artillery Commander of the Moscow Military District; Col. I. A. Gryzlov, in the GSFG Artillery Directorate; Col, V. I. Fedorov, commander of a missile and free rocket brigade in the GSFG and formerly Varentsov’s aide-de-camp; Major-General A. R. Pozovnyy, Chief of the PVO Strany Political Directorate; and other generals, colonels, and lesser officers with whom he had served or studied.
d. Col. Penkovskiy’s friends and close associates in the GKKNR included D. M. Gvishiani, who was his immediate superior and is the son-in-law of First Deputy Premier Kosygin. Gvishiani moved up in the Committee during August 1962 and was replaced by V. V. Petrochenko.
e. Within the GRU, Col. Penkovskiy was closely associated with the branch chiefs responsible for several Near Eastern countries, and contacts in the Military-Diplomatic Academy, including librarian Dolgikh.
f. Among other, important individuals with whom Col. Penkovskiy briefly came into contact socially were Marshal Malinovskiy and Central Committee Candidate Member V. M. Churayev.