Sakharov, Shcharansky Linked to Spy Swap Report

The United States, the Soviet Union and East and West Germany may be planning a major East-West spy swap in conjunction with the Geneva summit meeting, a West German newspaper reported Thursday night.

The swap would also include the release by the Soviets of dissidents Andrei D. Sakharov and Anatoly Shcharansky, according to the Hamburg-based Bild newspaper.

Bild attributed its information to diplomatic sources in Washington and Bonn, who were quoted as saying that the possible swap would take place after President Reagan meets with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev on Nov. 19-20.

Trade Tied to Summit

“The success of the operation will only be ensured if the summit meeting goes well,” the newspaper said. “Gorbachev then wants to send a signal.”

Bild said that under the proposed arrangement, the United States and West Germany would free several jailed Soviet and East German spies in exchange for about the same number of Western agents who have been imprisoned in the Soviet Union and East Germany.

In Bonn, a government spokesman said “nothing was known” about the reported spy deal.

In Washington, Secretary of State George P. Shultz, asked about the report at a press conference, said: “If there is something like that, I know nothing about it. I don’t think there is anything to it.”

Report Called ‘A Crock’

Another U.S. official said later the report was “a crock.”

“We don’t think there is any truth in it but we would welcome any gesture involving Sakharov or Shcharansky,” the official, who asked not to be identified by name, said.

The official added that Bild is often unreliable, although it sometimes carried stories stating official Soviet policy written by Viktor Louis, a Soviet journalist with close ties to the government. Louis signed the report about the Yelena Bonner exit visa, but his name was not associated with the spy and dissident swap story.

Over the years, several exchanges of espionage agents have been made between East and West, and, and at any given time, both sides hold accused spies of the other countries in their prisons. Thus, the potential for some kind of swap among Washington, Bonn, East Berlin and Moscow is always there.

While Bild’s reports are sometimes sensational and inaccurate, the publication earlier this week did forecast Moscow’s apparent decision to release Sakharov’s wife, Yelena Bonner. The State Department has confirmed that she will be allowed to leave the Soviet Union for medical treatment.

No Sign of Bonner

As of late Thursday, however, Bonner had not arrived in the West, stirring speculation that she may refuse to leave the Soviet Union without her husband.

Sakharov, 64, the Soviet Union’s most prominent human rights advocate and the recipient of the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize, has been exiled to the city of Gorky, 250 miles east of Moscow, for his activities.

Shcharansky, 37, a Jewish dissident, was sentenced in 1978 to 13 years’ imprisonment and hard labor on charges that he was a spy for the United States.

Times Staff Writer Norman Kempster, in Washington, contributed to this story.