The origins of CIA and Radio Nacional de España (RNE) Ukrainian broadcasts can be traced to March 1956: there were discussions between ZP/UHVR (Foreign Representation of the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council) and CIA regarding a “support of the political drive designed to lead in organizing a world-wide drive of raising nationalism as an ideology opposed to the Soviet brand of totalitarian Communism.” Ukrainian nationalist exile Mykola Lebed in New York was in contact with Radio Madrid and received twelve of its radio scripts for his comments. In March 1956, Lebed told his CIA contact at a meeting in New York:
These broadcasts are following the general theme of Ukrainian national liberation, and they avoid chauvinistic attacks on the Russian nationals. However, their content is somewhat weak insofar as critical discussion of the defects of the Soviet system. The exposition of the problem of the Ukrainian population versus regime requires extensive study and continuous flow of information which at the present time is lacking in “Radio Nacional.” The Ukrainian group of writers and editors in Madrid consists, for the most part, of the younger people who were educated by Jesuits in Madrid University.
Lebed also said that the Ukrainian editors of the Radio Madrid broadcasts were anxious to establish contact with ZP/UHVR and wished to draw on its talent and resources in order improve their broadcasts.
In August 1956, action was taken to have Prolog Associates in New York gradually take over the Ukrainian broadcasts from Radio Nacional de España. The leader of the Ukrainian group producing the scripts for Radio Nacional, Bohdan Tsymbalist, established liaison with Prolog Associates and offered to follow the leadership of Prolog Associates. By the end of 1956, the Ukrainian desk at RNE was producing daily “live” broadcasts to Ukraine. Prolog sent Tsymbalist $50 per month and provided him with script material and records of Ukrainian music.
By 15 April 1957, CIA decided to reduce the support of ZP/UHVR in FY 1958, due to “the general reduction of the budget.” The reasoning was:
The Ukrainian Emigres who originally represented the underground resistance movement in USSR could no longer justify these claims. The current activities of Prolog Associates as a group fell into two categories; namely, Propaganda directed to the Ukrainian population in USSR and Political activities within the Ukrainian emigre circles in the free world. Within the first category could be included the following: Ideological guidance and technical support for Radio Madrid.
In October 1957 the Prolog representative in Madrid brought a copy of the Prolog Magazine to the attention of a Radio Nacional executive , who was very interested in it and used its influence to have the article “Asian Renaissance” by Lev Shankowsky published in the Radio Nacional Bulletin in Spanish. This bulletin was distributed to Spanish ministers and members of the General Staff and others. The “Arab Desk” at Radio Nacional translated the same article into Arabic and utilized it for their broadcasts to the “Arab” nations. The editor of the RNE Chinese Desk was also interested and had the article translated into Chinese. Both the Lebanese and Moroccan program directors also expressed interest in utilizing the article for their broadcasts.
On 14 October 1957, in the Prolog offices in New York, Lebed informed his CIA case officer that he was in correspondence with one of the members of the ABN (Anti-Communist Bloc of Nations) mission on Formosa regarding broadcasts being beamed to the Soviet Union via the Nationalist Radio Network. The ABN representative asked for aid in obtaining suitable propaganda materials. Lebed agreed with a request that the group send copies of their radio scripts. He received a letter from ABN in which were enclosed the last two radio scripts in Ukrainian. He told his case officer that he would have the radio scripts translated and give them to him.
Lebed met his CIA contact at the Prolog offices in New York in November 1957 and told him that he received information from Poland stating that the Ukrainian broadcasts from Radio Nacional were the best Ukrainian-language broadcasts from the West. A Ukrainian named Buchinsky (first name unknown), prepared two religious broadcasts in Ukrainian per week. Radio Nacional paid the Ukrainian Section approximately 1,000 pesos a month (approximately $25) but this was not sufficient for expenses.
In April 1958, Lebed told his CIA contact that his representative in Spain, Bohdan Tsymbalist, who was also head of the Ukrainian section of Radio Nacional, was to immigrate to the U.S. in the near future, if he was not to lose his right to emigrate. A possible alternative was a trip to the United States for at least two weeks, which would allow him the possibility of returning to Spain, and emigrating at a later date. Lebed planned to discuss this problem with him during the former’s trip to Europe later this month.
Lebed spent six days in Madrid in July 1958. Two days after his arrival, the Director of Radio Nacional was replaced by Gomez, considered to be pro-German and anti-American. Tsymbalist told Lebed that Gomez’s advisor was a Yugoslav whose wife, a Russian and worked in the Madrid area. It was not known what changes would take place now that Gomez took over. Tsymbalist was hopeful that the Ukrainian broadcasts would be continued and told Lebed that would keep him informed of developments.
In an internal CIA March 1959 report on the costs of the daily 15-minute broadcasts over Radio Nacional, the total annual cost was $600 to “one individual located in Madrid, who directs the script writing and does the announcing.”
In November 1958, there was doubt about broadcasts over Radio Nacional to Ukraine:
Regarding Radio Madrid, it is presently the intent of SR Division to send a case officer out to have local contact with any assets which we put on the ground in Madrid. The question raised was whether we know enough about individual we are subsidizing and particularly whether we have read the Radio Madrid scripts and would we come to any conclusion as to the quality of the propaganda output.
The renewal of the AERODYNAMIC project for FY 1960, approved in March 1960, contained these comments about the clandestine broadcasts:
Radio MADRID. Two 15-minute Ukrainian language programs have been broadcast daily over Radio Nacional de España in Madrid. Information received in correspondence and via tourists traveling to Poland indicates that the broadcasts are beard there and comments have been favorable. The content of these broadcasts is controlled via AECASSOWARY-2. Some radio script material is supplied by the AECASSOWARY personnel in New York and by two of their contacts in Madrid, who do the actual broadcasts.
AECASSOWARY was CIA’s cryptonym for ZPUHVR. AECASSOWARY-2 was the cryptonym for Mykola Lebed.
