The Region - News from April 25, 1985

The owner of a Russian restaurant in Hollywood and two Russian emigres were the opening prosecution witnesses in the Los Angeles federal court spy trial of Svetlana Ogorodnikova, 34, and her husband, Nikolai, 51, accused of conspiring with FBI agent Richard W. Miller to pass classified documents to the Soviet Union. Michael Markarian, owner of Mischa’s, testified that Ogorodnikova frequently complained about the United States to customers and portrayed the Soviet Union as a “beautiful, crime-free society.” He said he had to have his accordion player drive her home one night because she was tipsy. Also testifying was Gregory Shenderovski, a former neighbor of Nikolai Ogorodnikov in Kiev, and Karine Matevossian, who defected from Russia in 1978. The trial resumes today with retired FBI agent John Hunt, who once tried to recruit Ogorodnikova as an FBI informant, on the stand.