Soviet Active Measures in The
'Post-Cold War' Era 1988-1991



A Selected Chronology
Of Crude, Derogatory
Soviet Disinformation,
January 1989 To August 1991


The following chronology includes appearances of crude, derogatory disinformation in the Soviet media, and appearances of such Soviet-fostered disinformation in the media of other countries. It is only a sampling, not a comprehensive catalog.
DATE SOURCE NOTES / COMMENTS
17 Aug 91 Blitz Indian newspaper with "close ties to Soviet intelligence" according to Soviet defector repeats disinformation that the CIA assassinated Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
08 Aug 91 Swedish
TV-2		 News program features Jacob Segal, who repeats AIDS disinformation. Segal is the former East German scientist whose false claims were the centerpiece of the Soviet AIDS disinformation campaign.
31 July 91 EFE Spanish wire service reports surface throughout Latin America and elsewhere, featuring "baby parts" disinformation claims by Soviet-controlled front group International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL). Mexican and Portuguese wire services also cite IADL claims.
13 July 91 Blitz Replays story of CIA involvement in Rajiv Gandhi assassination.
02 July 91 Patriot Indian daily set up by KGB according to Soviet defector falsely alleges that U.S. Marines were extensively surveying security areas of the India-Bangladesh border and sneaking into India for espionage.
28 June 91 TASS Head of Lithuanian OMON (Special Purpose Militia) claims that guns were discovered in its search of the Vilnius telephone exchange. Charge is denied by Lithuanian Communications Minister, who says OMON planted the weapons.
12 June 91 Pravda Replays disinformation that the CIA was behind the death of Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos, who died in a plane crash in 1981.
08 June 91 Tribune Indian newspaper blames the CIA for the assassinations of Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Zia Ul-Haq, Z.A. Bhutto, and a Bangladeshi cabinet minister, based primarily on 1988 Soviet book The CIA in Asia.
08 June 91 Patriot Falsely claims that the CIA was involved in assassinating Rajiv Gandhi.
03 June 91 USSR
Prosecutor
General		 Report on killing of 13 unarmed demonstrators in Lithuania in January 1991 exonerates Soviet forces of responsibility for their deaths.
16 May 91 Izvestia USSR Ministry of Defense document falsely claims that the U.S. National Security Council was using revelations in the Soviet press about the 1983 shooting down of Korean Airliner 007 as part of a campaign against the Soviet Army.
08 May 91 Pravda Soviet newspaper falsely suggests that "U.S. special services" assassinated former Nicaraguan Contra leader Enrique Bermudez.
13 Apr 91 Sovetskaya
Rossiya		 Article falsely accuses the U.S. of developing biological weapons that use snake venom.
09 Apr 91 Radio
Moscow		 Program falsely claims that Radio Liberty correspondents in the USSR gather military intelligence for the U.S. government.
30 Mar 91 Rabochaya
Tribuna		 Deputy KGB chairman falsely charges the U.S. with training terrorists in Lithuania.
04 Mar 91 Bulawayo
Chronicle		 Letter in Zimbabwean daily falsely charges that the U.S. invented the AIDS virus and that the CIA exported "AIDS-oiled condoms" to other countries in 1986.
04 Mar 91 Pravda Repeats Iraqi disinformation claim that a biological weapons facility bombed by coalition forces actually produced milk for children.
02 Mar 91 News
Today		 Indian daily that frequently carried Soviet disinformation repeats false charges that the U.S. is plotting to dismember India.
Mar 91 Harakah Four-part series in Malaysian newspaper falsely accuses CIA of controlling Radio Liberty, trying to assassinate Charles de Gaulle, etc.
28 Feb 91 Ganashakti Communist Party of India (Marxist) daily charges that the CIA is orchestrating a "Black Sea-Baltic Confederation" among nationalities seeking independence from the USSR.
27 Feb 91 Sovetskaya
Rossiya		 Falsely suggests that epidemics in Iraq may have been intentionally caused by the U.S.
26 Feb 91 Rabochaya
Tribuna		 Falsely claims the U.S. was planning to seize the Gulf oil fields in order to achieve geopolitical supremacy over Western Europe and Japan.
23 Feb 91 Radio
Baghdad		 Soviet Major General Viktor Filatov is reported to have said that "Patriot missiles have not done anything and have actually caused the allies great damage."
12 Feb 91 Trud Soviet Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov falsely charges that unnamed "Western forces" are conspiring to overthrow the Soviet government by sabotaging the Soviet economy.
Feb 91
(#2)		 Voyenno-
Istoricheskiy
Zhurnal		 Revives disinformation that Radio Liberty is run by the CIA.
07 Feb 91 Sovetskaya
Rossiya		 Falsely claims that the CIA is now permitted to engage in political assassinations.
06 Feb 91 Pravda Falsely charges that coalition forces made "frequent attacks on hospitals, museums, schools, mosques, and refugees" in war against Iraq.
01 Feb 91 Komsomolskaya
Pravda		 Major-General Filatov, when asked whether Israel has an atomic bomb, states, "If not, the Americans will give them one."
31 Jan 91
24 Jan 91		 Patriot Repeats Iraqi disinformation that the Israeli air force was attacking Iraq.
23 Jan 91 Patriot Alleges that Turkey was planning to seize northern Iraq, and was being encouraged by the U.S.
22 Dec 90 Blitz Indian weekly with "close ties to Soviet intelligence" according to defector falsely accuses the CIA of involvement in right-wing terrorism in Latin America.
22 Dec 90 TASS KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov accuses the U.S. of sending contaminated grain to the USSR.
21 Dec 90 Dainik
Jagran		 Indian newspaper revives long-standing Soviet disinformation claim that the CIA is working to create an independent Assam.
20 Dec 90 Land
og
Folk		 Danish Communist daily repeats disinformation that U.S. was behind the assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme.
09 Dec 90 Sovetskaya
Rossiya		 Implies that the Interregional Group of deputies in the Soviet parliament is being supported by the CIA.
05 Dec 90 Land
og
Folk		 Replays Palme disinformation.
20 Nov 90 Krasnaya
Zvezda		 Repeats "Black Sea-Baltic Confederation" disinformation.
19 Nov 90 Pravda Claims that former Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos was assassinated by "Western intelligence services."
17 Nov 90 Col. Nikolai
Petrushenko		 USSR Supreme Soviet deputy falsely implies that the Soviet parliament's Interregional Group of deputies is supported by the CIA.
17 Nov 90 Col. Viktor
Alksnis		 USSR Supreme Soviet deputy falsely alleges that the CIA is to set up a "Black Sea-Baltic Confederation" consisting of Ukraine, Byelorussia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia.
04 Nov 90 Sovetskaya
Rossiya		 Falsely implies that the Interregional Group is supported by CIA.
Oct 90 Aaj Kaal Indian newspaper features repetition by Communist Party of India (Marxist) official of old Soviet disinformation that the U.S. is trying to dismember India in an alleged "Operation Brahmaputra."
18 Oct 90 Sovetskaya
Rossiya		 Implies CIA involvement in assassination of Olof Palme and various acts of terrorism in Belgium and Italy.
07 Oct 90 Sovetskaya
Belorossiya		 Repeats "baby parts" disinformation.
14 Sep 90 Amandla Belizean newspaper repeats AIDS disinformation from April 1990 New African.
19 Aug 90 Izvestia Falsely claims that the U.S. was behind the ouster of Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
17 Aug 90 Krasnaya
Zvezda		 Replays Iraqi disinformation that Israeli soldiers, disguised as Americans, are serving among U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia.
01 Aug 90 Dagens
Nyheter		 Swedish newspaper replays Palme disinformation, and accuses CIA of various acts of terrorism.
25 Jul 90 TASS Soviet newswire falsely implies that unclassified, government-funded research on AIDS at a U.S. university is part of a U.S. plot against Africa.
19-25 Jul 90 Ny Dag Swedish weekly implies that AIDS may have been created by U.S.
May 90
(#9)		 Agitator
Uzbekistana		 Falsely charges that Voice of America and Radio Liberty broadcast "according to CIA instructions."
15 Apr 90 Radio
Moscow		 Broadcast in Somali falsely claims that U.S. has signed agreement with Somalian government to continue leasing Berbera military base.
15 Apr 90 City Press South African newspaper for black readers reprints AIDS disinformation from April 1990 New African.
Apr 90 L'Europeo Article in major Italian newsweekly repeats "baby parts" charges, falsely claiming that there is a "flourishing market" for organ transplants in the U.S. Author Gian Paolo Rossetti surfaced forgery of suspected Soviet origin in LIEuropeo in 1988.
Apr 90 New African Cover story in London-based magazine distributed throughout Africa repeats AIDS disinformation claims of East German doctor Jacob Segal, which had aired on British television in January.
30 Mar 90 Ghanaian
Times		 Article resurrects false Soviet claim that U.S. government killed the 918 people who died in the 1978 Jonestown mass suicide in Guyana.
09 Mar 90 Patriot Indian newspaper set up by KGB makes false claim that U.S. engages in drug trafficking in Afghanistan. Similar claim repeated in India's National Herald on March 14.
05 Mar 90 National
Herald		 Article by United Communist Party of India leader falsely accuses CIA of destabilizing Punjab and Kashmir.
10 Feb 90 Blitz Falsely accuses U.S. of trying to destabilize India in league with Pakistani intelligence service.
03 Feb 90 Blitz Falsely suggests that U.S. embassy officials stole secret documents from Indian Defense Ministry.
29 Jan 90 Radio
Moscow		 Falsely blames the spread of AIDS in the Philippines on the presence of U.S. bases.
26 Jan 90 Nigerian
Tide		 Letter to editor repeats false Soviet claim that the CIA killed the 918 people who died in the 1978 Jonestown mass suicide in Guyana.
26 Jan 90 Radio
Moscow		 Implies that four American mercenaries were killed after hijacking an Iranian plane.
22 Jan 90 Channel 4 British television broadcasts German film "AIDS: the African Legend," which includes disinformation claims by Jacob Segal.
08 Jan 90 Pravda Repeats false charge that U.S. killed Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos.
Jan 90 Democratic
Journalist		 Magazine of the Soviet front group International Organization of Journalists falsely implies CIA responsibility for the 1984 murder of Mexican journalist Manuel Buendia.
Jan 90 Novosti
Military
Bulletin		 Soviet publication that regularly carries disinformation claims that the U.S. will produce "hormonal" weapons, a new type of mass destruction weapon, within 10 years.
Jan 90 Senegalese
press		 Several newspapers make false claim that U.S. is using a bacterial fungus, coccidioidomycosis, as a genocidal weapon against Senegalese. Coccidioidomycosis was commonly portrayed as an "ethnic weapon," which would have supposedly killed blacks but not whites, in Soviet disinformation claims.


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