KGB Chief in Ukraine Fired for Persecution
The Communist Party daily Pravda today carried the first known public report of punitive action against a ranking KGB officer, saying a department chief of the Ukrainian secret police was fired for persecuting a local reporter.
The report, carried on Pravda’s front page, was signed by KGB chief Viktor M. Chebrikov.
It said that in response to an earlier article in Pravda, the KGB was taking “additional measures” to punish other Ukrainian security officers and “to ensure the strict observance of law in the activities of the state security organs.”
It was believed to be the first time that an officer of the KGB, traditionally considered invulnerable to public pressure or accountability, was punished in such a manner.
Chebrikov’s announcement of the firing of A. Dichenko, KGB chief in the Ukrainian city of Voroshilovgrad, came in response to articles printed by Pravda in late November and last Saturday.
The case involved a reporter for the newspaper Sovietsky Shakhtyor, Viktor Berkhin, who incurred official wrath in Voroshilovgrad by writing critical articles about local authorities.
Seeking to punish Berkhin, Pravda said, Dichenko--who initially was identified only as a party official--and Voroshilovgrad party chief Boris Goncharenko ordered the reporter jailed for 13 days on a trumped-up hooliganism charge.
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