MOSCOW: One of four young Soviet intellectuals who went on trial here yesterday [Jan 8] accused of belonging to a West German-based Russian émigré organisation has admitted being an agent for the organisation, court-room sources said. He was named as typographer Alexei Dobrovsky who was also said to have admitted under prosecution questioning that he had received money from the organisation, known as NTS.

Narodno-Turdovoi Soyuz, or People’s Labour Union, is an émigré organisation with headquarters in Frankfurt and members active in West Germany, Britain and France in particular. It publishes a literary review, “Crani”, in Frankfurt.

Dobrovsky reportedly said part of the money had been paid to him to be transmitted to one of the other defendants, writer Alexander Ginz­burg, as author’s rights for Ginzburg’s critical white paper on the February 1966 trial here of intellectuals Andrei Sinvyasky and Yuli Daniel. The white paper was published in “Crani”.

The rest of the money totaling 2,000 roubles (about 7,800 dollars) was said to have been earmarked for financing missions for the NTS in the Soviet Union, particularly the collecting of information and the distribution of anti-Soviet literature, such as pamphlets and tracts.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2018