Soviets Grill KGB Chief Before His Reappointment

Legislators today questioned KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov about the workings of his secretive agency and laughed in disbelief at some of his answers, but they voted by a resounding majority to reappoint him.

The most aggressive deputies were unimpressed with Kryuchkov’s responses to queries on phone taps, informers and dossiers. But they relished the first opportunity in Soviet history for a public grilling of the boss of the KGB, which killed millions of Soviet citizens during the reign of Josef Stalin and is still feared by many citizens.

Six Nay Votes

Only six members of the 542-member Supreme Soviet voted against the 65-year-old Kryuchkov, who has been KGB chairman since last year and was deputy chairman for 10 years before that.

Kryuchkov’s confirmation came despite derisive snorts of laughter from the hall when he claimed that the KGB does not tap Soviet citizens’ phones and complaints from several deputies about the KGB’s network of informers.

Kryuchkov said the agency, which performs both domestic and foreign security functions, “strictly follows Soviet laws” and has only a few “helpers” who inform on their neighbors and colleagues.

Lawmaker Boris Yeltsin said Kryuchkov’s statements about informers were “insincere” and that in reality “an army of many thousands constantly informs on what is happening in each work collective.”

Yeltsin said there were agents in every Soviet institution. Yet during the 10 years he spent as Communist Party chief in the city of Sverdlovsk, “They never caught a single spy.”

Kryuchkov refused to reveal the KGB’s budget despite repeated inquiries, but he said it would be published soon and “you will be surprised when you see it.”