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

DATE: SUNDAY, February 27, 1994                   TAG: 9402270110
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Short

RUSSIAN: ARRESTED CIA AGENT `WORKED FOR US'

The chief of the Russian armed forces general staff said publicly Saturday that Aldrich H. Ames, the veteran CIA official arrested on espionage charges earlier this week, had been spying for Moscow.

"He worked there and worked for us," Lt. Gen. Mikhail Kolesnikov said at a press conference here. "He defended our interests because he exposed spies who were pumping Russian secrets to the United States."

Kolesnikov's comment was the first from a high-ranking Russian official acknowledging U.S. charges that Ames had been working for Moscow. Since Ames' arrest Tuesday, Russian officials had been accusing Washington of overdramatizing the case without denying that Ames had betrayed American secrets.

On Friday, the State Department announced it would expel the intelligence chief at the Russian Embassy in Washington, Alexander Lysenko, in reprisal for the Ames affair, and administration officials also hinted at further punitive actions.

Saturday, a spokesman for the Russian intelligence service reiterated remarks by Russian diplomats that Moscow would soon retaliate by expelling a U.S. intelligence official from Moscow, and there was speculation that the CIA chief here would soon be asked to leave.

by CNB