2 Russians Plead Guilty in Spy Case : Wife Faces 18-Year Term, Husband 8 Years in Plot to Recruit FBI Agent

Accused Soviet spies Svetlana and Nikolai Ogorodnikov pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court in a plea-bargain arrangement negotiated in the last two days with federal prosecutors.

Under the agreement, approved by U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon, Ogorodnikov was immediately sentenced to eight years in prison. His wife is to be sentenced July 15 to an 18-year prison term.

The guilty pleas came two months after the beginning of the Ogorodnikov spy trial, in which the two Russian emigres were accused of working as agents for the Soviet KGB in a plot to recruit former FBI Agent Richard W. Miller as a Soviet spy.

Defense lawyers and prosecutors, citing an order by the judge barring any comment on the case, refused to discuss the change of heart by the Ogorodnikovs, who had steadfastly maintained their innocence since their arrests Oct. 2.

Faced Life Terms

The Ogorodnikovs, if convicted of the charges they faced, could have been sentenced to life in prison. As part of the plea bargain, bribery charges against both were dropped and they each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy.

While the agreement eliminated the risk of life sentences for the Ogorodnikovs, it also assured the government of convictions and removed the threat that the Soviet Union might pick up additional information about the operations of the FBI in the course of the trial.

In the sudden and dramatic conclusion of the trial, Ogorodnikova wept and her husband delivered an angry hourlong tirade against his alcoholic wife, the U.S. government and the FBI before his sentencing.

Referring to Ogorodnikova’s sexual relationship with Miller, who will face his own espionage trial later this summer, Ogorodnikov exploded in rage:

“They raped my wife. They took my wife and turned her into a prostitute. I just end up outside like a dog. I just said everything to help her. She is the reason I am here.”

The Ogorodnikovs, who immigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1973 and lived in Hollywood, were arrested with Miller on Oct. 2 after a massive monthlong FBI counterintelligence operation code-named Whipworm.

Miller Main Witness

Miller, 48, who had been the government’s main witness against them during the last two weeks of the trial, met the 35-year-old Ogorodnikova on May 24, 1984, and testified that he began a sexual relationship with her a few days later.

The government claims that the former counterintelligence agent, the first FBI agent ever charged with espionage, passed secret FBI documents to the Ogorodnikovs later in the relationship in exchange for Ogorodnikova’s sexual favors and the promise of $65,000 in gold and cash.

Miller’s lawyers, Stanley Greenberg and Joel Levine, declined comment Wednesday on the effect of the guilty pleas on their client’s case, saying only that they look forward to Miller’s trial being moved up from its present scheduled start Aug. 6. Miller was not in the courtroom Wednesday.

Just as Miller testified against the Ogorodnikovs, both defense and government lawyers said Wednesday that the two Russians may be called to testify against Miller.

A fourth alleged conspirator in the scheme to obtain FBI documents is Aleksandr Grishin, a vice consul of the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco, who was not prosecuted because of diplomatic immunity.

The Times learned that Grishin, who had remained at the San Francisco consulate since the October arrests, left the United States Sunday to begin what was described as a vacation in Moscow. A Soviet official at the San Francisco consulate said such vacations usually last about a month, but did not know when Grishin might return.

In Washington, U.S. officials said they did not know whether Grishin will be back. He could be declared persona non grata because of his alleged role in the spy case and ordered out of the United States if he does come back, but that action would not be taken until the Miller trial has also ended.

Critical Point

While plea-bargain talks had begun earlier in the trial of the Ogorodnikovs, the first indication that they had reached a critical point came Tuesday, as Miller was preparing to take the stand for another day of testimony.

Announcing that the lawyers needed to resolve something of importance that “only recently developed,” Kenyon sent jurors home for the day and later met for more than an hour in his chambers with government and defense lawyers.

At the end of Tuesday’s secret session, Ogorodnikova emerged in tears and exchanged angry words with her husband. The Times subsequently learned that Ogorodnikova had agreed to a plea-bargain arrangement but that her husband had objected to it.

Insisted on Both

The government’s position, a source close to the negotiations said, was that it would not accept a plea bargain from just one of the defendants.

While lawyers would not comment on the timing of the plea agreement, trial sources noted that the defense had waited until Miller had been thoroughly questioned for eight days by both prosecutors and lawyers for the Ogorodnikovs.

Miller was portrayed as a liar and an incompetent by both sides, but he also gave damaging testimony against Ogorodnikova, saying that she had attempted to recruit him to be a Soviet agent at a meeting in Malibu last Aug. 5 in which she allegedly described herself as a major in the Soviet KGB.

The testimony Miller gave about Ogorodnikov was viewed as less harmful. The former agent said he met Ogorodnikov only once, at the urging of Ogorodnikova. At that meeting, last Aug. 8, Miller said he talked about plans for receiving $50,000 in gold for agreeing to meet with a Soviet intelligence official, but stressed that Ogorodnikov spoke English so poorly that he wasn’t sure what the Russian immigrant had said in response.

Ogorodnikova’s lawyers initially claimed that their client was a victim of FBI manipulation, that she had believed Miller was legitimately attempting to infiltrate Soviet intelligence and that she was an alcoholic, emotionally troubled woman with an IQ of 74.

Claimed No Knowledge

The defense for Ogorodnikov, who worked in an East Los Angeles meatpacking plant, was that he was living with his wife only because of their 13-year-old son, Matthew, and that he had no knowledge of his wife’s intrigues with Miller.

In court Wednesday morning, Ogorodnikov, wearing his usual black baseball cap and blue sweat shirt, still showed signs of resisting the agreement worked out by his attorney, federal public defender Randy Sue Pollock, and defense lawyers for Ogorodnikova.

A 10 a.m. hearing was delayed for two hours as Pollock consulted with Brad Brian and Gregory Stone, the two defense lawyers representing Ogorodnikova, as well as government prosecutors Bruce G. Merritt and Richard B. Kendall.

By noon, however, final arrangements were complete. After 27 days of testimony in the spy case, Kendall stood to inform Kenyon officially that the plea-bargain talks had successfully concluded.

“The parties have agreed on a disposition of the case,” Kendall said. “It will be by guilty pleas by both defendants. It is the government’s view that justice will be done.”

Announcing his acceptance of the sentencing arrangement, Kenyon said it appeared that both sides had given “considerable thought to the matter and feel it is in the interests of the public and of justice.”

Questioned Defendant

At Kendall’s request, the judge then began questioning Ogorodnikov to make sure that he understood his guilty plea and to determine that, in fact, the 52-year-old immigrant was guilty of being a part of the conspiracy.

Ogorodnikov, although extremely agitated, limited himself at first to impatiently confessing his guilt, seemingly anxious to end his courtroom ordeal as quickly as possible.

“Yeah, I plead guilty. Sure,” he said, helped at times by a Russian translator who has assisted him since his arrest and throughout earlier proceedings.

Ogorodnikov, regarded by prosecution and defense as the defendant who was least involved in the conspiracy, then waived his right to a probation report before sentencing. When Merritt rose to argue that Ogorodnikov should not receive special consideration for early parole, the defendant launched into his tirade, gesturing angrily at both his wife and the judge and again using an interpreter.

“I understand the whole situation very well here,” he said. “I knew I’d be sacrificed in this case.”

Lifetime Drinker

Pointing to his wife as she sat crying at the defense table, Ogorodnikov added:

“She drank her whole life, and she is the reason I am here. You have to understand my feelings. I was in a Soviet prison for 15 years and I sat in the Gestapo prison. I’m not afraid of American prison. American prison is not too bad.”

The courtroom explosion by Ogorodnikov was his first since the trial opened April 24. In the past, it had been Ogorodnikova who showed the most emotion throughout the trial, crying recently as Miller described his sexual relationship with her and exploding angrily early in the trial when another former agent, John Hunt, denied having a sexual relationship with her.

While Ogorodnikov minimized his role in the conspiracy, he admitted during his impassioned pre-sentencing speech to consulting with his wife after all her meetings with Miller, that he consulted with her on plans for her and Miller to travel to Vienna and said he knew that she was attempting to get documents from Miller.

Listens Patiently

Kenyon, listening patiently and with obvious sympathy, thanked Ogorodnikov for his words to the court, then sentenced him to the agreed eight-year term, noting that he will be eligible for parole after serving a third of his sentence.

Times staff writer Edward J. Boyer contributed to this story.