Sakharov accuses KGB of stealing personal papers

Exiled Soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov appealed to Western leaders to help save the life of fellow dissident Anatoly Shcharansky and accused the KGB security police of stealing hundreds of pages of his own unpublished memoirs.

In a letter to KGB Chairman Vitaly Fedorchuk dated Oct. 23, Sakharov said 900 handwritten and 500 typewritten pages of memoirs, six volumes of diaries, his passport, driver's license, and other personal effects were stolen Oct. 11 in Gorky, where he has been exiled nearly three years. The letter was made available to Western reporters by his wife.