Terrorism: On the Bulgarian Trail

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Bulgarian agents have engaged in a number of dubious activities on behalf of the Soviet Union throughout the world. For years Western intelligence experts have believed that Bulgaria shipped millions of dollars worth of arms to right-wing terrorists in Turkey, helping create the anarchy that almost toppled the Turkish government in 1979. According to Israeli intelligence officials, more than 1,000 Palestinian terrorists have been trained in Bulgarian camps over the past decade, and all the heavy armaments used by the P.L.O. in Lebanon were shipped from the Black Sea port of Varna. Nicaragua's former Ambassador to the U.S. Francisco Fiallos Navarro last week revealed that Bulgarian advisers "have a very important role in economic planning in Nicaragua."

At every level, ties between the Soviet Union and Bulgaria are close, partly reflecting Bulgaria's longstanding gratitude for Russian help in expelling Turkish occupiers in 1878. Most Western intelligence officials agree that on international missions at least, the Bulgarians act only on direct orders from Moscow. The relationship between the KGB and its Bulgarian counterpart, says Stefan Sverdlev, a defector who was a colonel in the Bulgarian secret service until 1971, "is like that between master and slave." True as that may be, it does not constitute any proof of Soviet involvement in the Pope's shooting. Indeed, Bulgarian involvement has not been proved, but Italian authorities plainly feel their case is strong. —By Kenneth W. Banta. Reported by Gregory H. Wierzynski/Washington and Wilton Wynn/Rome, with other bureaus