Poland Accuses U.S. Diplomat of Spying

Poland on Wednesday accused a U.S. diplomat of spying and said he left the country after police caught him trying to pass a briefcase filled with money, secret codes and maps to a Polish contact.

Government spokesman Jerzy Urban, in announcing the accusation at a news conference, played a videotape of the diplomat’s rendezvous and subsequent detention and showed espionage-related materials allegedly found in his possession.

Urban said a “sharp protest” was lodged with U.S. Embassy officials.

He identified the diplomat as Albert Mueller, a second secretary in the political section, and said Mueller had gathered information on Soviet and Polish military planning and consulted members of the political opposition.

White House Reaction

In Washington, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Mueller was not expelled and his departure was initiated by the embassy.

“As far as I know he’s not a spy,” Fitzwater said.

Mueller was detained by police in Warsaw on Saturday evening as he attempted to pass a briefcase with spying equipment in it to a Polish citizen during a clandestine meeting, Urban said.

He was released after being questioned and left the country the following day, Urban told his weekly news conference.

Paul Smith, a U.S. Embassy spokesman, confirmed Mueller’s detention and departure. But he refused to comment on the Polish charges or why Mueller had left, except to say that he was nearing the end of a two-year tour in Poland. Mueller’s wife, Gillian, and infant daughter are still in Warsaw.

“The U.S.A. has numerous spying groups in the socialist countries, including Poland,” Urban said.

Urban said Mueller was not declared persona non grata because he had left Poland by Tuesday, when the Foreign Ministry handed the protest note to U.S. officials.

Smith said the United States has protested Mueller’s 6 1/2-hour detention as a “violation of his diplomatic immunity.”

Interrogation Shown

During the news conference, Urban played a police videotape that he said showed Mueller’s meeting with a Polish contact in what appeared to be a park. It also showed police interrogating Mueller at a police office.

Urban refused to identify the Pole or say whether he had been arrested.

He also displayed $2,000 in $100 bills, computer discs, lists of codes, a pencil-shaped object that contained microfilm, a bag of a paper-dissolving agent and maps of Warsaw that he said Mueller planned to turn over to the contact.

“My name is Albert Mueller. I am an American diplomat. Please contact the American Embassy,” Mueller told his police questioners during the segment of videotape played by Urban.

Asked how he could explain the material found in the briefcase, the mustachioed diplomat replied: “I protest this treatment. Please call the American Embassy.”

Mueller, who U.S. officials said is in his 30s, was dressed in blue jeans and a dark sweater.

Urban said Mueller had numerous contacts with senior advisers to the outlawed Solidarity trade union movement and had attempted to gather information on work stoppages at factories and plans to disrupt May Day parades.

He also accused Mueller of collecting technical data on military radars and a new Soviet helicopter and rocket system.

“The activities of some American diplomats inconsistent with their diplomatic status threaten to disturb the process of improving relations, which is the declared goal of the American Embassy,” Urban said.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Charles Redman said the United States rejected suggestions that it seeks to disrupt progress in the U.S.-Polish dialogue.

“We also regret that the Polish government has sought to make such spy allegations an important issue in U.S.-Polish relations,” Redman said.

The two governments have made substantial progress in recent months toward normalizing relations, with several high-level contacts and the end of U.S. sanctions imposed on Poland in 1981.