ITAR-TASS & INTERFAX The Official State News Agency of Russia Reported on Moscow Evening News Television & Radio
CIA OVERSTATING AMES AFFAIR TO GAIN ITS ENDS
EXPERTS 22/2 TASS 44 MOSCOW MARCH 1 ITAR BY ITAR-TASS CORRESPONDENT ANDREI PALARIA:
EXPERTS OF THE RUSSIAN EXTERNAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE HAVE DESCRIBED INFORMATION ABOUT ALDRICH HAZEN AMES' COMPLICITY IN TRANSFERRING TO RUSSIA TECHNOLOGY OF DEVELOPING A SUPERSECRET WEAPON NO MORE THAN AN ACTION OF THE AMERICAN SPECIAL SERVICES DESIGNED TO ATTRACT MORE PUBLIC ATTENTION TO THE AMES' AFFAIR. AS EARLIER REPORTED, PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN CORPORATIONGERARDO INTERNATIONAL; NEIL GERARDOANNOUNCED THAT ALDRICH AMES ARRESTED IN THE UNITED STATES ON SUSPICION OF SPYING FOR MOSCOW COULD HAVE HANDED OVER TO MOSCOW SECRET INFORMATION CONCERNING THE MRX DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY INVENTED BY THE COMPANY WHICH DEVELOPS SECRET WEAPON SYSTEMS ON ORDERS FROM THE PENTAGON. RUSSIAN SPECIALISTS DESCRIBE AS DISINFORMATION ALSO REPORTS ABOUT ALDRICH AMES' COMPLICITY IN DRUG TRAFFICKING. THE EXPERTS SAY THAT THESE ARE TYPICAL DEVICES OF AMERICAN SPECIAL SERVICES AIMING AT INFLUENCING THE COURT. EXPERTS SAY THAT THE REASONS FOR THESE AND SOME OTHER ACTIONS ARE UNDERSTANDABLE BECAUSE, ACCORDING TO INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO THE RUSSIAN EXPERTS, THE AMERICAN SPECIAL SERVICES HAVE NO CONVINCING PROOF OF AMES' COMPLICITY IN SPYING FOR MOSCOW.
ITAR-TASS & INTERFAX The Official State News Agency of Russia Reported on Moscow Evening News Television & Radio
ZHIRINOVSKY DENIES AMES CONNECTION
1/3 TASS 121 MOSCOW MARCH 1 ITAR BY ITAR-TASS CORRESPONDENT: RUSSIAN NATIONALIST LEADER VLADIMIR ZHIRINOVSKY DENIED ALLEGATIONS THAT THE SECRET WEAPONS WITH WHICH HE HAD THREATENED THE WEST OF LATE WAS OBTAINED BY RUSSIA THROUGH ALDRICH AMES, A HIGH-RANKING CIA OFFICIAL ARRESTED ON CHARGES OF SPYING FOR RUSSIA. "THESE CAN BE PARALLEL RESEARCH WITH SIMPLY THE SAME NAME, BUT THIS IS A RESEACH OF OUR SCIENTISTS, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH AMERICANS", ZHIRINOVSKY TOLD TASS ON TUESDAY ADDING THAT HE HAD LEARNED ABOUT THE AMES FAMILY FROM NEWSPAPERS. MEDIA REPORTS SAID THAT THE ZHIRINOVSKY-DISCLOSED SECRET WEAPON WAS CREATED BY THE US "GERARDO INTERNATIONAL" COMPANY, AND, ACCORDING TO ITS PRESIDENT NEIL GERARDO, WAS OBTAINED BY RUSSIANS THROUGH AMES. "WE HAD AND HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE AMES HUSBAND AND WIFE, AND WE ARE NOT CONNECTED WITH ANY SECRET SERVICES IN GENERAL", ZHIRINOVSKY SAID.
By ITAR-TASS correspondent Mikhail Kolesnichenko New York, 28 Feb 1994
The American corporation "Gerardo International", which works on developing secret weapons systems for the Pentagon, thinks that Aldrich Ames, arrested last week on suspicion of spying for the former USSR and then for Russia, could have supplied Moscow with secrets of the production of a new invention of the company -- the so-called "MRX" defense technology. The president of the corporation, Neil Gerardo, expressed his anxiety at this circumstance in a letter to Congressman John Mica (Republican, Florida), which has been made available to the ITAR-TASS office in New York. The document notes in particular that the company's management became concerned when one of its staff in Belgium reported the details of a Reuter interview with LDRP [Liberal Democratic Party of Russia] leader Vladimir Zhirinovskiy in which the latter declared for the first time that Russia had an ultra-secret offensive weapon called "Elipton." The description of this mysterious weapon given by Zhirinovskiy turned out to be similar to the "MRX" defense technology developed in the "Gerardo International" laboratories. "Our company, like many other institutions that are developing high-technology weapons systems, knew of and welcomed the actions of the U.S. Government's intelligence departments in monitoring our lines of communication, because this met the aims of national security," the letter pointed out. "Today our anxiety has increased even more after the arrest of Aldrich Ames on suspicion of supplying secret information to Moscow. We in 'Gerardo International' have done everything possible to keep the 'MRX' production methods a secret. However, after the events that have taken place we fear that the technologies of this system have been 'blown'. We call on Congress to carry out a thorough investigation of this urgent matter. We should like to know how many people, and precisely who, have access to information on the 'MRX' production technologies." The ITAR-TASS correspondent called a representative of "Gerardo International," but he flatly refused to comment on the letter, saying that as yet he had nothing to add to the above version.
