Iurii Andropov, On the Hostile Activities of the So-called ‘Group for Implementation of the Helsinki Accords in the USSR’. November 15, 1976
Translation by the Library of Congress
In recent years our adversary’s special services and propaganda bureaus have attempted to give the impression that a so-called “internal opposition” exists in the USSR, rendering support to those who inspire antisocial and anti-Soviet activities and promote the banding together of participants in a variety of anti-Soviet activities.
Accordingly, in 1969 antisocial elements headed by Iakir and Krasin founded an “Initiative group” in order to form an organization made LIP of participants of the so-called “movement for democratization.”
In 1970, in order to activate the antisocial efforts of individuals with hostile leanings, Chalidze established the so-called “Committee for the Protection of Human Rights” which, in addition to himself, includes among its members Academician Sakharov and Shafarevich, a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
In 1973 the so-called “Russian Section” of Amnesty International, headed by Turchin and Tverdokhlebov, assumed organizational responsibilities for individuals with anti-Soviet leanings.
Members of these organizations made contacts with selected anti-Soviet centers abroad and engaged in the collection and dissemination of defamatory materials to discredit Soviet state and social structures.
As a result of measures taken by the Committee for State Security the “initiative group” and the “Committee for the Protection of Human Rights” have been completely compromised and have virtually ceased to exist. The activities of the “Russian Section” have been curtailed.
Nevertheless, despite the failure to create an “Internal opposition” in the USSR, our adversary has not abandoned this idea.
On May 12 of this year, on the initiative of Iurii F. Orlov, born in 1924, unemployed, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR, the antisocial elements announced the formation of a “Group for Implementation of the Helsinki Accords in the USSR.” …
By the creation of this “group” the individuals just named have made it their provocative goal to put in doubt the Soviet Union’s sincere efforts to implement the principles of the Final Act of the Conference on Cooperation and Security in Europe, and thereby to exert pressure on the Soviet government with respect to implementation of the Helsinki Accords, especially as concerns the “third basket.”
Members of the “group” arc collecting materials oil the alleged noncompliance of Soviet authorities with the Final Act, especially oil the “violation of tile basic rights of Soviet citizens,” “persecution of dissenters,” etc …
The information collected oil these topics is transmitted via various channels to governments that have signed the Final Act. It is the intention of the “group” to request that, in special cases, these countries form an international commission to investigate these matters. In addition, the “group” will rely on the pressure of Western public opinion on the Soviet government, and does not-in the words of Orlov–seek support among the people.”
Antisocial elements are calling on the heads of states participating in the Helsinki Conference to create in their countries unofficial monitoring groups, which could subsequently be unified into an international committee …
The Committee for State Security is taking measures to compromise and put an end to the “group’s” hostile activities.
Source: Robert V. Daniels, ed., A Documentary History of Communism (Hanover: Published for the University of Vermont by University Press of New England, 1993), pp. 301-302.