This wraps up (for now, pending additional document releases) our short series of translations relating to the Intrepid Four and their handling for propaganda purposes by the Soviet Union. For further information, please refer to our first report in the series here.
Document 8: Memorandum from KGB Chairman Yu.V. Andropov to the CPSU Central Committee, 26 April 1968:
TOP SECRET
USSR COMMITTEE FOR STATE SECURITY under the COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF THE USSR
26 April 1968
No. 955-A
Moscow
To the CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE CPSU
In accordance with the decision of the Central Committee of the CPSU No. 1173/47 of March 11 of this year, the KGB, through its unofficial channels, assisted the Japanese public organization “Peace for Vietnam” (“Beheiren”) in developing its activities to shelter and subsequently evacuate US servicemen who refused to participate in the war in Vietnam. On the night of April 22-23, the “Peace for Vietnam” Committee transferred a group of six Americans from Hokkaido Island to Soviet territorial waters, where they were handed over to Soviet border authorities and brought to the territory of the USSR. On April 25, the American servicemen arrived in Moscow.
The leadership of the Japanese “Peace for Vietnam” Committee, in connection with the successful completion of the operation, plans to organize a series of revealing propaganda events, timing them to coincide with April 27, when a mass anti-war demonstration against the war in Vietnam and Johnson’s policies is scheduled to take place in the United States. In particular, the “Peace for Vietnam” Committee intends to widely publicize in Japan and New York some previously prepared materials on the aforementioned group of American servicemen (their personal statements, appeals, press appearances, photographs, film documents, and tape recordings) and to organize a special press conference in New York.
The Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee is responsible for organizing the reception and stay of the six American servicemen in the Soviet Union in accordance with the aforementioned decision of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
KGB CHAIRMAN ANDROPOV
Distribute to Politburo members 29 April 1968
Document 9: Memorandum from Chairman of the State Security Committee Yu.V. Andropov and USSR Minister of Foreign Affairs A.A. Gromyko to the CPSU Central Committee, 13 May 1968:
TOP SECRET
CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE CPSU
The six American servicemen who arrived in the USSR on April 23 of this year have since traveled to Leningrad and the Georgian SSR.
In accordance with the instructions of the Central Committee of the CPSU, political efforts are being carried out with them aimed at exposing the anti-communist indoctrination they were subjected to in the USA and South Vietnam, as well as their use for propaganda purposes. Meetings were organized between the Americans and representatives of the Soviet public, their appearances on central television, and corresponding publications in the newspaper “Pravda”. As a result of conversations with the American servicemen, sharp incriminating articles were published in the newspapers “Izvestia” and “Komsomolskaya Pravda”. Most of the Americans express their readiness to continue this work so that all of their materials exposing the dirty, criminal nature of the aggressive US war in Vietnam can be compiled into a brochure or book. The publication and subsequent distribution abroad of these materials in the form of a brochure is planned to be carried out through the capabilities of the APN (Novosti Press Agency).
Plans are in place to next organize a meeting between the Americans and representatives of newspapers from socialist countries accredited in Moscow, as well as the newspaper “L’Humanité”.
Simultaneously, the Soviet Committee for Solidarity with Asian and African Countries and the Soviet Committee for Support of Vietnam, which are responsible for organizing the stay of the American servicemen in the Soviet Union, are working to prepare for their further travel to Western countries. Three of the Americans would like to settle in Finland, one in Sweden, and one in Canada. A member of the group, Kenneth Griggs (Kim Jin Soo), an American of Korean origin, is asking for assistance in resolving the issue of the possibility of obtaining higher education in the USSR or in one of the European socialist countries. With the consent of the Soviet Committee for Support of Vietnam, he has established contact with the DPRK embassy in Moscow.
The KGB, together with the Soviet Committee for Support of Vietnam, has begun practical measures to send a group of Americans to France or Sweden. The Soviet Committee for Support of Vietnam, through public organizations and Soviet embassies, will raise the issue of the reception of these Americans by public organizations and authorities of the aforementioned countries.
Should there be difficulties in resolving this issue, unofficial KGB channels abroad will also be used.
Coordinated with the Soviet Committee for Support of Vietnam (Comrade A.S. Dzasokhov).
GROMYKO 13 May 1968
ANDROPOV 13 May 1968
No. 1082-A
Document 10: Memorandum from KGB Chairman Yu.V. Andropov to the CPSU Central Committee, 11 June 1968:
TOP SECRET
USSR COMMITTEE FOR STATE SECURITY under the COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF THE USSR
11 June 1968
No. 1374-A
Moscow
To the CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE CPSU
In accordance with the decision of the Central Committee of the CPSU No. 1173/47, dated March 11 of this year, the KGB, through its unofficial channels, continues to assist the Japanese public organization “Peace for Vietnam” (“Beheiren”) in its activities to shelter and subsequently evacuate US servicemen who refused to participate in the war in Vietnam. Currently, the “Peace for Vietnam” committee has prepared a group of three Americans for transfer to the territory of the Soviet Union. The transfer is planned to be carried out on a Japanese schooner on the night of June 14-15 of this year.
The organization of the reception and stay of the American servicemen in the Soviet Union, in accordance with the aforementioned decision of the Central Committee of the CPSU, was entrusted to the Soviet Committee for Support of Vietnam.
The KGB and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR will submit proposals on how to use the American servicemen arriving in the territory of the USSR for propaganda purposes.
KGB CHAIRMAN ANDROPOV
Translation © 2025 by Michael Estes and TranslatingHistory.org
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