U.S. Airman Held for Talking to Soviets in Bonn

U.S. authorities in West Berlin said Sunday that they have detained an American Air Force man, seized while talking to two Soviet military officers who were allegedly trying to obtain information from him.

American officials said the Soviet officers were briefly detained and questioned by counterintelligence officers before being handed over to Soviet officials in East Berlin.

The U.S. mission did not identify the detained American serviceman and said that any more relevant information would have to come from Washington.

The Reuters news agency in West Berlin reported that the two Soviet officers were identified only as Rokichky and Markov, both majors.

The officials said it was the third case of suspected espionage by U.S. military personnel this year in West Berlin, a major center of espionage activity between Eastern and Western powers, as well as between East and West Germany.

The American mission in West Berlin, a city that retains special status under the nominal control of the Allied occupying powers, said in a statement:

“The two Soviets were apprehended while meeting an airman who had been tasked by the Soviets to provide them with classified U.S. defense information.

“The U.S. Air Force member involved is cooperating with U.S. authorities regarding the matter.”

The U.S. mission said it has protested verbally to Soviet authorities over the incident but has not received an answer. It added that a formal written protest will be made today to Soviet authorities.

The U.S. Army has a Berlin infantry brigade of several thousand soldiers, and the U.S. Air Force maintains an air base at Tempelhof in West Berlin, where a significant number of special communications personnel are assigned.