Oversee KGB? Sure, Chief Says

Vladimir Kryuchkov, the head of the KGB, said Thursday that the Soviet security and intelligence apparatus is “interested in” and “absolutely” supportive of a commission of the new Congress of People’s Deputies that would oversee his secret police agency.

And he said that under Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s program of perestroika , “a great deal of noble aspects of KGB activities” will become more apparent, such as “our struggle against terrorism.” In that effort, he added, the KGB had had “certain contacts” with the United States.

Kryuchkov discussed the KGB with several Western reporters a day after Yuri Vlasov, a Moscow deputy to the new congress, condemned the feared intelligence agency as an “underground empire” that “exercises a comprehensive control over society.”

The boldness of Vlasov’s remarks, yet another sign of the new freedoms set loose by perestroika, caused a sensation among the deputies. Vlasov accused the KGB of still holding dissidents in psychiatric hospitals to prevent political opposition.

“If he spoke such a speech seven years ago, he would have gone to prison 10 years at a minimum,” said an Estonian deputy.

Also remarkable has been the access Western and Eastern Bloc reporters have had to traditionally inaccessible figures such as Kryuchkov and members of the ruling Politburo.

Kryuchkov, who became head of the KGB last autumn, said Thursday that the agency now considers the battle against terrorism “the most important direction of our operational activities.”

“We are ready to cooperate with anyone in our struggle against terror,” he said, expressing appreciation for Israel’s handing over hijackers who had used Soviet schoolchildren as hostages to get a plane to Israel last December.

The head of the KGB also said his agency wants to see an oversight commission on state security formed by the new congress. “Maybe we’ll have to borrow some experience from Americans,” he said referring to congressional committees that are supposed to oversee the CIA. “We are interested in such a commission. Maybe (some activities) will be corrected. There’ll be a chance of discussion.”