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we ; 0 ARG pe Lewctape gp ete Rm ee aE peogle could not understand was 7, whylonly a short time before t nent Russian politicians h that they had no informp--: tion [whatsoever concerning e presefice in Russia of ‘those two Biiiah exdiplomats. 2 was asked whether I would - be’ prepared to write a story about | Burgess and Maclean. | said 1+, would not unless 1 was given © every facility tor ae Then I was asked whether | - Would writs t{ Burgest ane Maclean asking them for more ,; information. I said L:did not; jnow thelr address, - - | J was then told that if I wrote - to #ither Burgess or Maclean, and i adiiressed the letter care of the ' Tass Agency, the letter would be : dejivered. I would have to send ; tha letter. by hand to the Press - Offce of the Soviet Foreign : Ofice. i ta : il thought thus «# roundabout ° was of handling the matter, but - 1 wrote a letter to’ Donag. Maclean and handed it over. Now we have to go back a HtGe way to pick up more tee fe ‘ bn this remarkable sory, — ~~ In January this year, Oo Harold Wilson was in Moscow. He was there as legal adviser to a British firm of plastic manufac- turers. A member of this firm: was there to do a deai with the - Russians, to obtain an order womh three. million pounds | .Merping. mot | HIS FRIEND): :* . Wison met Mr. Kruschev on January 13, and asked him what news he nad of Burgess and, Maciean. Mz. Kyruschey, I understand, replied: “Are they" in: our country. then?” Mr. Wilson answered: “I understand they were supposed to be.” Mr, Kruschey: replied: “1 thought you had their address. I have not beard anything of them from any Soviet officials. | Nor navé 1 ever met them. . So it tands wo reason 1 cannot ko ee they are doing.” th ‘ t é ! | Just ene month Jater uoaway Britons . turned-.up e National Ho) alk trom the K! Harald W. = oniy 8 shot miin where MF. Kruschev. Nov as’ i: happens, the pias manufacturer who was in Mosco hi @ars ago been s close frie of tall Maclean. A te mapnths _betrre Macléan By pens disappeared, Mr. Slain, as I must call the plastic manu- facturer, met Maclean at @ party, Maclean who had been drinking, said to his friend -Mr. Blank:. “What would you say if I told you that'll was working for Uncle Joe? ™ , Myr, Blank thought the state ment so remarkable that it was his duty to report it, .He went to the Foreign Office, where an. oficial told him: “That is a ; Matter for Security. Why should, we do Security's job?” 4 Very soon after that Burgess and Maclean disappeared. 7 INA PANIC.) It can now be revealed that | eferything that they transmitigd © fgom Great Britain to Mo : Went through the Russian Tass: gency. No original documeiis - went to Russia, I believe, only photostats were transmitted, out there were. copies of reports and the precis of certain confidential ~ apers. : It is strange, Dut 1 am certain that neither Burgess nor Maclean had aver. worked out any Secape route 50 when they knew that they were suspected . the: panicked, 7: Sh 7 Both of them nad diplomatic: passports which would be easily traced. So they were given false Passvorts and with ese they went by a devious route, not, travelling all the way together,,] to Rusia. rf I can reveal without a shadow 4 of doubt that although these two men had deen “working for. Uncle Joe” they were @ great | embarrassment to the Russians,") and what is more they were : extremely suspect. — - ; ae Even now, after all these years, + they are not allowed out alone { and tney are not allcwed to com-) ve with any meniber gof y qe their families in Britain withqut 4 tte communications first be : passed by the Russians. : | l fter being heid secretly y. | the Russians, duey’ were put a | ee ; ; ' ‘ forced ante the open.! .-. . -QUICK- MOVE". At the end of his ten weeics’. a ee a ee i. 4 uch with the Tass Agency ot vecy Jong before they mage her public statement they egan to work for the Agengy. eading reporte from abroad ivying their opinions on them Tt was due to a move made by my. colleague, Mr. Richard Hughes, that the two men with, ia 4 sojourn in Russia, Mr. Hughes sent a. memorandum to Mr. Molotey " about © Burgess Maclean. He declared that unless these men made @ statement and the matter was cleared up. when Mershal '. Bulganin © en Mr. Kpuschev went to London, they .. wpuld be pressed by reporters ccgncerning the whereabouts pf e British ex-diplomats. Ys. f The - Kremlin thought C) da? were | 74 and ; iB y action. - The : x j ce Burgess and Mac wis reached afters on bd. i dig, Hot iast more BP sees an wo, The statement they y was drafted by themsclven, ‘Thee At was translated into Russian by ‘one of the Soviet Office : interpreters, who checked it with ;@ translation made by one of tha Tess Agsicy interpreters, ‘3 Then the two translations were ama)l- gamated, A a certain ". English- ness” remained in the Russian translation. . It was as if the. peaseians were afraid of ’ . _ Z on Bitar uw ! Once the Russians had made ‘that step, they decided ts use ; Burgess and Maciean as advisers ' On the London visits of Malenk: ‘and of Bulganin and Kruse! rv. The two- ex-British diplombts were kept busy on this for weeks. . _ Sometimes, out ‘of evu’ conjes _ good. Russia's move to be mare , friendly disposed towards a ;; West is, Iam convinced, genuine a it certainly pleases the Rus- | @an man in the street, . | { | The Russians cannot be fooled, . They know that neither Burgess or Maclean has any more con- | ts with Great Britain, so that thelr knowledge of foreign volley | is outdated, Their only use now | ae im_ om own dn Le. es ry 40 BOVISID§ wie Pussane on | ,@wlode han anal serlne ah. = wep Lie BLL WUEY LLG = FULis= i sians first lied about the presence ‘ in Russia of Burgess and Maclean, It was laid down as a Com-. munist law. by Lenin that“ any Communist’ has the perfect right to tell a ie if that lie ig-in the interests of Communism:* “ Some-? itive nertate af those vane, COrla Of Wlss peopler” tr eae seeitia : “THE RED LIE. | To end this story I want to | Tae et saws GI* tine” covet can be convenient to the conscience. ‘.: Such was ‘the casé when " both: ev. and | $Molotov affirmed that they had” no “knowledge of the presence in: ; Russia of Burgess-and 2 Maclean. + Finally, did Maclean - ever, ‘reaeive tha latter T was ocked tn% asned [o.’ ‘sepa him? I don't know.-'. all® J gan say is that he never eplied. ‘NEXT. SUNDAY: Ressian women told, me. SaaS Sa an -