Kudirka, Simas

In 1952 he graduated from the Naval College. From 1956 to 1970 - worked on the vessels of the Klaipeda fishing fleet.

On Monday, November 23, 1970, during the overseas voyage, the forty-year-old Kudirka escaped from the ship, jumping over onto the deck of the American coast guard vessel (the events took place in the coastal zone, a mile from the island of Martas-Vinyard ). Kudirka told the US Navy that he wanted to stay in the United States. The captain of a Soviet ship informed his American colleague that the fugitive “stole three thousand rubles from the captain’s safe”, asked for the escort to be allowed on board and the intruder returned. And although no one believed the information about the theft allegedly taking place on board the American ship, at that time Soviet-American negotiations were being held with the aim of signing a bilateral fishing agreement, therefore, in order not to create a scandal at the international level, the captain of the American coast guard ship commander Ralph Eustis , acting in accordance with procedural requirements, contacted the shore and requested further instructions. Since the commander was formally on a sick leave outside the commander’s control and could not order his subordinates (although in fact his “advice” was regarded by them as an order), his duties were de jure performed by the chief of staff of the district captain 1st rank Fletcher Brown, who ordered the captain of the ship to be held fugitive on board until the approval of the Department of State is obtained. The State Department refrained from any instructions to the sailors on the essence of what happened. In the meantime, the information was reported to Rear Admiral William Ellis , commander of the 1st US Coast Guard District, who considered this “an internal affair of the USSR” and ordered the fugitive to be given “advice”. Having received instructions from the higher command, the captain of the American ship allowed the Soviet convoy to the deck, seized Simas and dragged him back, starting to beat right during the escort.

US President Richard Nixon found out about the incident only six days later, while at Camp David and reading the morning newspaper. He was furious not only with the fact of the return of the USSR defector, but also with the fact that he was not informed immediately. According to the results of an official investigation , on December 21, three naval officers, including the district commander, the district’s chief of staff and the ship captain, were dismissed from the ranks of the United States Coast Guard (it is noteworthy that on September 18, two months before the incident, the district commander was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor for exclusively impeccable service). The commander of the Bohr Admiral Chester Bender demanded a tribunal for the perpetrators, but it did not come to that (a departmental commission composed of senior coast guard officers rejected this request).

In the USSR, a sailor was arrested, the investigation was conducted by the KGB , the charge was brought under Art. 62 of the Criminal Code of the Lithuanian SSR (" Treason against the Motherland "). The process took place on May 17-20, 1971 in the hall of the Supreme Court of the Lithuanian SSR , during the process he was convicted and sentenced to lengthy imprisonment in a forced labor camp . In 1974, due to the information that Kudirka’s mother had American roots (she was born in New York ; she was nine years old when the family returned to her historical homeland), the case was reviewed by the court of appeal, Simas was released from the camp and moved to the States together with family. When Kudirka was unexpectedly called to the head of the ITL and released, he was very afraid that this was some kind of trick, that he would be killed on the way. A great merit in the release belongs to Sergei Kovalev .

In the States, Simas was a member of Lithuanian organizations and lectured on the USSR.

In 1978, the television movie D.L. Rich, “ Defector of Simas Kudirka ” ( English The Defection of Simas Kudirka ), in which Alan Arkin played the role of Simas Kudirka, was released. Also, several books have been written about him and a number of documentaries have been shot. ^[one]

Since the 2000s he has been living in Lithuania again. ^[2]

• Smith, Terence . Coast Guard Officers Relieved Of Duties in Defector Incident . // New York Times , December 4, 1970.
• Coast Guard Officers Relieved Of Duties in Defector Incident . // New York Times , December 5, 1970.
• Defector: Why Nixon Was So Angry Over Refusal of Asylum . // New York Times , December 6, 1970.
• US Documents Hint Admiral Made Decision to Return Defector . // New York Times , December 8, 1970.
• Coast Guard Aide Critical on Defector . // New York Times , December 9, 1970.
• Coast Guard Will Retire 2 Who Blocked Defection . // New York Times , December 21, 1970.
• Fidell, Eugene R. How to (Mis) Handle a Defection . // Proceedings , Annapolis, Maryland: US Naval Institute Press, 2008. (with photographs of the defector and other important photographs)

• Kudirka's press conference upon arrival in Chicago in 1974 (English) (lit.)
• Valdas Adamkus apie Simą Kudirką 1974 m.
• Agnė Fabijonavičiūtė. Lietuvių gyventojų pabėgimai ir mėginimai ištrūkti iš Sovietų Sąjungos
• Į JAV bėgęs ir už SSRS išdavimą kalėjęs S.Kudirka: visas Lietuvos gyvenimas persunktas bolševikine dvasia
• Virginija Skučaitė. Šuolio į laisvę kaina. Kauno diena, 2008-11-15
• Attempted Defection by Lithuanian Seaman Simas Kudirka: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on State Department Organization and Foreign Operations ..., 91-2, December 3, 7-9, 14, 17, 18, 29, 1970