Kremlin Executes Accused CIA Spy Tied to Howard Case

The official Soviet news agency Tass anounced Wednesday the execution of a Soviet man who was accused of working for the CIA and reportedly was turned in to the KGB by American defector Edward Lee Howard, a former CIA employee.

Tass did not say when the Soviet citizen, Adolf G. Tolkachev, was executed. The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this year that Tolkachev had been put to death.

Spy trials and executions are not always reported by the Soviet press, and when they are the reports sometimes come long after the trials take place.

A military tribunal convicted Tolkachev of “high treason in the form of spying,” Tass said.

The agency said Tolkachev was executed after an appeal was turned down. Executions in the Soviet Union normally are carried out by firing squad.

Tass described Tolkachev as “a staff worker of a Moscow research institute.” It said he was arrested by the KGB, the Soviet secret police, and “exposed . . . as an agent of U.S. intelligence.”

No Arrest Date

The agency did not say when Tolkachev was arrested or when he was put on trial.

“It was established in the course of the investigation that Tolkachev, in pursuit of selfish ends and on account of his hostile attitude toward the Soviet state, had maintained espionage contacts with U.S. intelligence agents who had been in Moscow under the guise of U.S. Embassy personnel,” Tass said.

It did not list the charges against Tolkachev.

The Times, quoting unidentified sources, reported from Washington earlier this year that Tolkachev had been executed because of information provided by Howard, who defected to the Soviet Union in August.