NEW YORK — The Soviet KGB secret police made a vain attempt two years ago to incriminate the same American journalist its agents arrested over the weekend on espionage charges, a Soviet emigre said Sunday.
Alexander Goldfarb, a Columbia University professor, said that his father, David, was asked by the KGB in April, 1984, to induce U.S. News & World Report correspondent Nicholas Daniloff to smuggle a package of written material out of the Soviet Union.
The elder Goldfarb, a retired professor of genetic engineering, refused, and his visa to leave the Soviet Union was canceled, according to his son, who came to this country 11 years ago.
Soviet authorities announced Sunday that Daniloff is being held for investigation of espionage after accepting a package on Saturday from a Soviet source that allegedly contained maps marked "top secret." Daniloff denied any espionage activity.
