Defector's Wife Commits Suicide
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Defector's Wife Commits Suicide y Kevin Klose chenko, "has been confirmed by phyii- old daughter, Anya, out of the Soviet , Washington Post Foreign Service clans." ' Union. The wife of top Soviet Gennady Shevchenko, who is a jun- .--MOSCOW — Soviet sources with good official . ior diplomat in the Soviet Foreign defector Arkady Shevchenko has com- connections asserted that Leongina. `Ministry, said his mother's body was mitted suicide in the family's Moscow Shevchenko, 48, took an overdose, of discovered MondaY afternoon. apartment, her son said yesterday. sleeping pills and hid herself in a The Soviet sources said the family large wardrobe in her bedroom either thought Mrs. Shevehenko had gone to Gennady Shevchenko, whose father Sunday or Monday. visit friend% and when she failed to. was undersecretary general of the return, they launched a search of the United Nations secretariat and is an In New York, Arkady Shevehenko, expert on Soviet disarmament policies, who quit his $76,000.a-year position af-son, apartment 26, and Living his family with and her her were daugh- her refused to give any details of his ter refusing to return home, •said his ter. mother's suicide. But he said by tele- wife's suicide "has been a heavy blow The son, ''who' is married and has ohone that a verdict i of suicide in the for me." He appealed to the U.S. gov- ieath of his mother, Leongina Shev- ernment to help him bring his 16-year- See SHEVCHENKO, A33,Col. 1 enko surfaced with a lawyer to say he SHEVCITENKO, From Al had refused to return here because of "differencet" with his government. one child, said his mother had been The 47-year-old career diplomat, a pri)- distraught by her husband's refusal to tege of Soviet Foreign Minister An- return to the Soviet Union last month irei Gromyko, then tried to, bargain for his job and subsequently asked for and his later decision to seek political political asylum in the United States. asylum in the United States. He said It is expected to be granted. Shevch- there was "no message of any kind" enko has intimate knowledge of the from his mother describing her state Soviet approach to disarmament and of mind before she died. the way policy in this crucial area is formulated within the secretive coun- He denied an account from Soviet cils of the Politburo. sources that his mother was depressed by Western news reports that her hus- His defection comes just as the Car- band had been in contact with West- ter administration is moving slowly ern intelligence agencies for several toward agreement with the Soviets on years and that he had formed a strong a new strategic arms.accord. liaison with another woman. Mrs. Shevcbenko's death casts into this powerful saga of intrigue and The death adds a new and tragic shifting allegiances a compelling hu- note to the bizarre sequence that has man ingredient that indicates the unfolded since early last month, when shattering strains that can occur Shevchenko, known at the United Na- within a family. tions as a doctrinaire Communist, ab- ruptly disappeared while his wife and The first report of the suicide daughter were preparing to return to turned up in the London Evening the Soviet Union in response to or- - News yesterday in an article filed by ders to the family from Moscow. The Victor Louis. He is a Soviet citizen who son, Gennady, was then with the So- frequently writes stories from high of- viet disarmament team in Geneva. ,, ficial government sources in a country where there are very few accidental After the women had left, Sheveh- 1 leaks or disclosures of any kind. 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 ." .