Defector's Wife Commits Suicide old daughter, Anya, out of the Soviet chenko, "has been confirmed by phyii- , y Kevin Klose Union. ' Gennady Shevchenko, who is a jun- Washington Post Foreign Service clans." Soviet sources with good official . ior diplomat in the Soviet Foreign .-- — The wife of top Soviet connections asserted that Leongina. `Ministry, said his mother's body was defector Arkady Shevchenko has com- discovered MondaY afternoon. Shevchenko, 48, took an overdose, of mitted suicide in the family's Moscow The Soviet sources said the family sleeping pills and hid herself in a apartment, her son said yesterday. large wardrobe in her bedroom either thoughtvisit friend% Mrs. Shevehenko and when she had failed gone to.to Gennady Shevchenko, whose father of the Sunday or Monday. return, they launched a search of the was undersecretary general In New York, Arkady Shevehenko, secretariat and is an who quit his $76,000.a-year position af-son, apartment 26, and Living his family with and her her were daugh- her expert on Soviet policies, ter refusing to return home, •said his ter. refused to give any details of his wife's suicide "has been a heavy blow The son, ''who' is married and has mother's suicide. But he said by tele- for me." He appealed to the U.S. gov- of suicide in the See SHEVCHENKO, A33,Col. 1 ohone that a verdict i ernment to help him bring his 16-year- ieath of his mother, Leongina Shev-

enko surfaced with a lawyer to say he had refused to return here because of SHEVCITENKO, From Al "differencet" with his government. The 47-year-old career diplomat, a pri)- one child, said his mother had been tege of Soviet Foreign Minister An- distraught by her husband's refusal to irei Gromyko, then tried to, bargain return to the last month for his job and subsequently asked for political asylum in the . and his later decision to seek political It is expected to be granted. Shevch- asylum in the United States. He said enko has intimate knowledge of the there was "no message of any kind" Soviet approach to disarmament and from his mother describing her state the way policy in this crucial area is formulated within the secretive coun- of mind before she died. cils of the Politburo. He denied an account from Soviet His defection comes just as the Car- sources that his mother was depressed ter administration is moving slowly by Western news reports that her hus- toward agreement with the Soviets on band had been in contact with West- a new strategic arms.accord. ern intelligence agencies for several Mrs. Shevcbenko's death casts into years and that he had formed a strong liaison with another woman. this powerful saga of intrigue and new and tragic shifting allegiances a compelling hu- The death adds a man ingredient that indicates the note to the bizarre sequence that has shattering strains that can occur unfolded since early last month, when within a family. Shevchenko, known at the United Na- The first report of the suicide tions as a doctrinaire Communist, ab- turned up in the London Evening ruptly disappeared while his wife and - News yesterday in an article filed by daughter were preparing to return to Victor Louis. He is a Soviet citizen who the Soviet Union in response toThe or- frequently writes stories from high of- ders to the family from Moscow. ficial government sources in a country son, Gennady, was then with the So- where there are very few accidental viet disarmament team in Geneva. ,, 1 leaks or disclosures of any kind. After the women had left, Sheveh- telephoned him for confirmation a de- His statement said his wife's suicide tailed story of his mother being "has been a heavy blow for me. I did stricken by a heart attack and how he not even have a chance to talk with took her to a hospital where she died. her after my decision to break with the Later, in another telephone inter- Soviet government because—and I ant view, he said that in fact his mother convinced of this—they forced her to had committed suicide. He said he return to Moscow. My daughter has had concocted the heart attack story been deprived of her mother, but she because his • maternal grandmother, still has her father. I will do every- who did not know the true cause of thing possible so that she can come her daughter's death, was with him in here to be with me." the apartment when Western corre- Western diplomatic sources here spondents began calling him about said there is virtually no chance the the Louis story. Kremlin would respond to any such Gennady Shevchenko said he could appeals from Shevchenko or the U.S. not bring himself to confirm it in government. It has long been Soviet po- front of his grandmother. He said she licy to ignore peas from defectors that has since been told it was suicide. _ their families be allowed to emigrate. The son said he now considers him- Just two weeks ago, Anya Shevch- self the head of the family here and enko spoke to Western correspond- will see to it that his younger sister, ents here of her father's actions: "I Anya, continues her schooling, don't understand it at all. I can't 'be- Shevchenko was undersecretary general for political and security lieve that he left us." She said she be- council affairs, a post that tradition- lieved he had been coerced into stay- ally has gone to a Soviet citizen. Al- ing in New York. though he claimed he "freely" decided a to refuse to return to Moscow, the So- Leongina Shevchenko herself took viets accused the United States of a similar view in an interview just a ARKADY SHEVCHENHO "detestable frame-up" and of coercing month ago. "He is a marvelbus father ... "a heavy blow for me" Shevchenko into his actions. This has and husband," she said. "He cannot been denied by Washington. live without his work and his family. I In New York, Shevchenko declared am one hundred percent sure he will Gennady Shevchenko at first through his lawyer that he will "do be returning. I know and am claimed the Louis article was false everything possible" to bring his certain . . . I have lived with him Jot and gave Western correspondents who daughter to New York. 27 years ."