KGB Hints at Western Role in Soviets’ Ethnic Unrest

The head of the KGB, the Soviet security police, hinted strongly Wednesday that he thinks Western intelligence agencies were behind recent ethnic unrest in the Soviet Union.

Viktor M. Chebrikov, a member of the ruling Politburo as well as head of the KGB, described the unrest in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh as “anti-social actions of a nationalistic nature.”

The region lies within the borders of the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, but the majority of residents are ethnic Armenians. The regional governing council voted on Feb. 20 to transfer control to neighboring Armenia, and hundreds of thousands of Armenians demonstrated and staged strikes in support of the vote.

Chebrikov addressed a meeting in the Volga port of Cheboksary, about 350 miles east of Moscow, and his remarks were made public by the official news agency Tass.

No Direct Reference

In its report, Tass quoted Chebrikov as saying that ethnic demonstrators had demanded revisions of state borders. He did not refer directly to Nagorno-Karabakh, however.

“It is an open secret,” he said, “that secret services of imperialist powers and foreign anti-Soviet centers actively join extremist nationalistic actions. Later on, they start playing the part of open instigators of hostile actions aimed at kindling hostility among nations. One should not underestimate the danger of this method of subversive activity.”

Soviet authorities have officially reported that at least 32 persons were killed and 200 others were injured last month in ethnic clashes over Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian sources say the number of dead is closer to 300.

Elements of the Soviet news media have accused Western radio stations of inciting unrest in the disputed region but have not directly blamed foreign intelligence agencies. Western officials have dismissed the criticism as groundless, saying that no radio station could have fanned ethnic tension in such a remote area.

Official Soviet reports from Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, indicate that a wave of strikes that hit the city have ended and that most workers have returned to their jobs. But the newspaper Pravda reported last week that local industry had accumulated the equivalent of millions of dollars in debts as a result of the strikes, which it said would affect production until the end of the year.

According to the Soviet press, 60 people have been arrested in the town of Sumgait, in Azerbaijan, in connection with rioting there. Azerbaijanis reportedly hunted down and killed a number of Armenians in Sumgait.

The Kremlin responded to the unrest with a statement ruling out any change in regional boundaries. It was this that prompted the strikes in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Some Armenians are reported to have fled the area, while others are said to be keeping their children out of school in fear that the violence could flare again.