[104-10211-10001.pdf — page 121]
122. said, sas that he had to concentrate on super1:3 אמוני workagainst code clerks and therefore had very little lireleft for ARIDIAN (sce above concerning code clerksi.In 1962 NCSENEC correctly described all of the threeclandestine letter mailings carried out by ARIDIAN at Mos-cow at CIA request (Pages 226-230). He also provico! ac-curate information on CIA letter-mailings in general.pointing out that none at all were mailed for a year and ahalf after the arrest of LANGELLE in October 1959. (Noletters were mailed from 22 February 1950 until 1 April1961, when ABIDIAN mailed his first one.) NOSENKO explainedthat the KGB completely controlled this activity through theuse of metka, a thief powder applied to the clothing offoreigners in the USSR; a trace is left on anything cominginto contact with treated areas, and this can be detectedby special machines through which all mail passes. Despitethe fact that all of ABIDIAN's letters were mailed to KGBdouble agents and would therefore have been detected anyway,it was metka, NOSENKO said, which in each case led to theirinitial Identification. After his defection NOSENKO describedhow the metka had been applied to ABIDIAN's clothing (andhence to the letters) by the agent FLOOROVICH. who beganworking as ABIDIAN's maid several months after ABIDIAN ar-rived in Moscow in March 1960. NOSENKO Insisted under inter-rogation that FEDOROVICH was the only agent who had accessto ABIDIAN's apartment, that he, NOSENKC. had personallybriefed her on the application of metka, and that he wassure that ABIDIAN's letters were detected by means of metka.From a CIA debriefing of ABIDIAN, however, it appears thatFEDOROVICH did not begin working as ABIDIAN's maid untilsome time in July 1961, whereas ARIDIAN matled his firstletter in Moscow on 1 April 1961 and his second letter on2 July 1961. ABIDIAN's third letter was mailed on 1 Septem-ber 1961, after FELOROVICII began to work for him.1. Reporting on ABIDIAN's Visit to the Pushkin Street Dead   DropNOSENKO'S account of the visit by ABIDIAN to thePENKOVSKIY dead drop site on Pushkin Street in Mosocw isdescribed in detail on Pages 231-235. In summary, NOSENKOreported that at the end of 1960 or early 1961 KGB surveil-lance followed ABIDIAN from the U.S. Embassy to PushkinStreet, where ASIDIAN was noted to enter a residential building.Upon examination it was decided that this was a likelydead drop site, and a stationary surveillance post was as-signed to watch it. After three months, since nothing sus-picious had been noted, this post was removed. The truesignificance of the location did not become known to theKGB until after the arrest of PENKOVSKIY in 1962. NOSENKOsaid he was still in the U.S. Embassy Section and was ABIDIAN'Scase officer when this event took place. He heard of itwhile sitting in KOVSHUK's office on the day it happened.visited the site the following day with V. KOZIOV (Chief ofthe American Department of the KGB Surveillance Directorate),placed the original surveillance report in ABIDIAN'S file,and discussed the results of the stationary post with KOZLOVon an almost daily basis during the first month and periodi-cally thereafter until the post was removed. It was ECZLOVwhe told NOSENKO that after three months the stationary