
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 21, 1994                   TAG: 9404210205
SECTION: NATIONAL/INT                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA                                LENGTH: Short

CIA AGENT'S WIFE DENIES ESPIONAGE FOR RUSSIANS

The woman charged with working for the Russians with her CIA-agent husband told the Los Angeles Times she is not a spy and knew very little about her husband's intelligence work.

``I never worked for the Soviets,'' Rosario Ames said Tuesday during an hour-long interview in her jail cell.

Aldrich ``Rick'' Ames and his 41-year-old wife were arrested Feb. 21 on espionage conspiracy charges. The FBI said Ames, a 31-year CIA veteran, was paid $2.5 million since 1985 by the Soviet Union and later the Russians to spy for them.

``I have no idea about it. I have very little knowledge of Rick's work or his superiors,'' Ames said.

She also challenged the government's assertion that she was a paid source for the CIA. ``I was never interviewed, officially hired or met anybody else from the CIA,'' she said.

In the interview, published Wednesday and conducted with her attorney present, Ames told of struggling with ``anger, resentment and bitterness'' toward her 52-year-old husband, feelings that have since settled into ``great sadness and bewilderment.''

She declined to comment on excerpts from government wiretaps that indicate she cautioned her husband against carelessness in carrying sensitive documents or cash.

by CNB