MOSCOW: Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi received funds for his party from the Soviet Union, a Russian newspaper here has said,
An article published in the “lzvestia”, an even paper from Moscow, has said the former KGB chief V. Chabrikov in wrote a letter to the central committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), which said that Rajiv Gandhi “expressed deep gratitude for the help being received by the Prime Minister’s family through commercial deals, of an Indian firm controlled by it, with Soviet foreign trade organizations.”
Chebrikov’s letter to the CPSU does not name the year in which the money was allegedly received by the former Prime Minister, nor does it give other details such as the name of the Indian firm or Soviet trade organizations it did business with.
But the letter adds “In a confidential message. Gandhi informed that the major part of these resources was used to support the party of Gandhi.”
The article is written by Evgenia Albats, a correspondent of the Moscow News paper, and gives detailed references from the KGB archives in which Chebrikov’s letter is kept From the letter of the KGB, chairman V. Chebrikov, to the central committee of the CPSU no.349-CH/OV. archives of the KGB USSR, case no.one, pages 103-104.”
The archives of the KGB and the CPSU were selectively opened about two weeks ago in Moscow, and stories about the funding of various governments and communist parties around the world have been appearing regularly in Russian newspapers.
The reference to Rajiv Gandhi is part of an article on various leaders who sought help from the former Soviet Union, Even the US senator, Edward Kennedy, the article alleges, asked the KGB to assist the firm of a friend.
The correspondent is surprised that even an American Democrat like Edward Kennedy could have accepted help from the KGB, especially as he must have been in the forefront of the condemnation of the “Gulag Archipelago.”
She goes on to add that “in human terms, the reaction of. Rajiv Gandhi -again expressed through the KGB can be understood,” meaning that it could be understood that Third World politicians reserved the money and they were using it in their war against “US imperialism.”
Other leaders mentioned in the article a shaving taken money from the KGB, are a former Sri Lanka prime minister, Sirimayo Bandaranaike and communist party leaders of the US. On the other hand, the former Russian husband of Christina Onassis is also believed to have put several thousand dollars into KGB coffers, the article adds.
This is the second time since the disintegration of the Soviet Union that information on Indian leaders has appeared in the Russian press. In February, the “Ogonyok” magazine had reported that the Communist Party of India (CPI) received money from the CPSU.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 10, 1994
