DATE=6/14/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-S / SOVIET SPY (L)
NUMBER=2-263494
BYLINE=MICHAEL BOWMAN
DATELINE=MIAMI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:


INTRO:  A retired U-S Army colonel has been charged 
with spying for the former-Soviet Union.  As V-O-A's 
Michael Bowman reports, the suspect is the highest-
ranking U-S military officer ever accused of 
espionage.


TEXT:  The U-S Attorney's Office in Tampa, Florida 
says Colonel George Trofimoff sold U-S military 
secrets for 25 years before retiring in 1995.

The suspect, a naturalized U-S citizen of Russian 
descent, allegedly had secret dealings with the Soviet 
K-G-B while serving at a U-S Army facility in 
Nuremburg, Germany.

U-S Attorney Donna Bucella says Mr. Trofimoff was 
recruited by a Russian Orthodox archbishop and K-G-B 
contact, Igor Susemihl, and that he stands accused of 
32 counts of espionage.

            /// BUCELLA ACT ///

      Trofimoff secretly took classified documents 
      from the Nuremburg J-I-C (Joint Interrogation 
      Center), photographed them, and later exposed 
      the film to Igor Susemihl or a K-G-B 
      intelligence officers.

            /// END ACT ///

Ms. Bucella says the information the colonel divulged 
harmed U-S national security.

            /// BUCELLA ACT ///

      Those documents included intelligence objectives 
      which listed current intelligence information 
      acquired by the United States, intelligence 
      priorities for strategic planning -- which 
      identified the current intelligence needs of the 
      U-S military, and Soviet and Warsaw Pact "order 
      of battle" documents -- which detail the U-S 
      current state of knowledge of Soviet military 
      organizations.

            /// END ACT ///

An indictment unsealed Wednesday alleges George 
Trofimoff's activities helped the Soviet Union 
penetrate and neutralize perceived threats to its own 
security.

The suspect was living in a small Florida town 
(Melbourne) at the time of his arrest.  The case is to 
be prosecuted in Tampa.   (SIGNED)

NEB/MCB/JP




14-Jun-2000 17:08 PM EDT (14-Jun-2000 2108 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.