Soviets Accused of Chemical Spying : U.S. Says Potentially Dangerous Dust Is Used to Determine Envoys’ Contacts

The U.S. government accused the Soviet secret police Wednesday of planting a potentially cancer-causing chemical dust on American diplomats in Moscow to help track their movements and discover their contacts among Soviet citizens.

State Department spokesman Charles Redman said the United States “protested the practice in the strongest terms” to Soviet authorities, describing it as a blatant violation of diplomatic practice and a potential danger to the health of U.S. personnel.

In Santa Barbara, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said that “it’s entirely possible” President Reagan will raise the issue when he meets Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev in Geneva in November. But Speakes said the meeting should not be disrupted as a result of the incidents.

Nevertheless, the dispute certainly will chill the atmosphere of the meeting, the first between a U.S. President and a Soviet Communist Party general secretary since President Jimmy Carter met President Leonid I. Brezhnev in Vienna in 1979. Speakes said that Reagan was informed of the incidents Monday.

Increased Usage

The Soviets have used chemical tracking techniques at least since the mid-1970s in Moscow and elsewhere, including at least one incident in the United States, a State Department official said. He said Washington decided to protest the practice now, instead of 10 years ago, because the use of the chemical was increased sharply this spring.

U.S. officials said they first learned of the potential health risks of the chemical, identified as nitrophenylpentadiene, or NPPD, within the last few weeks.

The prime targets for the chemical espionage apparently are Soviet dissidents and other who meet clandestinely with U.S. diplomats. The Soviet secret police, known as the KGB, presumably could consider the presence of the chemical on the person or property of a Soviet citizen to be evidence of a secret contact with a U.S. diplomat. Those found to bear traces of the chemical, which experts said could be fluorescent, could then be interrogated.

Dissidents Checked

The State Department would not say how suspects are chosen to be examined for traces of the chemical. However, observers here said all dissidents taken into custody for whatever reason might be routinely checked for its presence.

The State Department official said that the chemical is dusted on doorknobs, auto steering wheels and other places U.S. diplomats are likely to touch. Once a person is contaminated with the chemical, it is difficult to remove completely, he added, and KGB chemical tests can detect very small amounts of the substance.

The official said Washington “assumes” that the chemical also has been used against private American citizens, including journalists, and against other Western diplomats. However, proof has been obtained only of use against U.S. Embassy personnel.

He said the United States is concerned both about the political implications of the tracking and about the possible health risks. But he made it clear that Washington decided to go public only after learning of the health aspects. Presumably, the United States kept quiet at first to avoid letting the KGB know what the United States knew about the Soviet technique.

The official declined to speculate on why the increase in the chemical’s use coincided with Gorbachev’s selection as top Soviet leader and added that the timing of Wednesday’s announcement was not related to the November summit.

Not a Counterattack

Speakes likewise insisted that the U.S. announcement was not part of a public relations counterattack against a Soviet propaganda blitz before the summit.

The usual relaxation of tensions that precedes summits had been notably missing even before the chemical dusting case broke because of a dispute over testing of anti-satellite and nuclear weapons. The Soviets called for a moratorium on testing but the Reagan Administration refused, arguing that the Soviets were ahead in both areas. The United States announced new anti-satellite and nuclear tests this week.

Speakes also said that Wednesday’s announcement was not timed to detract from the announcement of the coming anti-satellite weapon test. “No connection whatsoever,” he declared. “You’re reading more into it than exists. We simply, once we got the facts in hand, felt that it was important that we proceed with protecting our personnel and informing them of the exposure.”

Could Cause Cancer

Redman said that NPPD “has been determined through biological testing” to cause mutations, or genetic changes. Chemicals that cause mutations in any organism often--but not always--cause cancer in humans. Redman said extensive tests, possibly lasting years, would be necessary to determine if the chemical is a carcinogen.

The State Department official said that NPPD is a “designer” chemical produced by the KGB especially for its use as a tracking agent. He added that there were no available testing data until U.S. scientists duplicated the agent to provide enough of it to be tested.

In Moscow, on Wednesday a State Department doctor briefed American Embassy staff members and U.S. citizens on the potential hazards of the chemical.

Although Congress is in recess, key lawmakers reacted angrily to the Soviet activity.

Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), the Senate’s senior Republican member, said: “I would go so far as to say if they are going to put chemicals on our people over there, subject them to cancer, that we close the embassy entirely if necessary. It’s inhuman, it’s barbarous, it’s unreal.”

Soviet Expulsions Urged

And Sen. David Durenberger (R-Minn.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, urged expulsion from the United States of all Soviet citizens “affiliated with intelligence.”

“It is a step too far in the point-counterpoint between intelligence and counterintelligence activity,” Durenberger said. “It reflects a cynical disregard of acceptable civilized behavior.”

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the Intelligence Committee’s vice chairman, called the Soviet use of the chemical “outrageous and totally unacceptable.” He urged the State Department to retaliate by “expelling some KGB agents who are masquerading as Russian diplomats.”