Botha to political prisoners like Nelson Mandela, however the request was turned down by Justice Goldstone. Dieter Gerhardt was one of the imprisoned spies who was mooted for inclusion in a 1989 East-West prisoner exchange amongst a number of countries that did not materialise. In 1990 when FW de Klerk unbanned organisations such as the ANC and released political prisoners like Nelson Mandela, Gerhardt was not one of those who was freed. He was visited in prison on 22 January 1992 by a delegation from the ANC, who were seeking information regarding the SADF that might have assisted them in CODESA negotiations with the National Party government. Gerhardt was released in August 1992 following his application for release, political pressure in South Africa and an appeal by Russian premier Boris Yeltsin to South African President FW de Klerk when the latter visited Moscow after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Former Minister of Defence Magnus Malan said that the former spy's release was a precondition to the restoration of diplomatic ties and the signing of a trade agreement between South Africa and the Russian Federation. Gerhardt moved to Basel, Switzerland, following in the footsteps of his Swiss wife Ruth Gerhardt, who was released in 1990 following a request from the Swiss government. He stated upon his release that: "I did not feel like a traitor or someone who was betraying his colleagues. I was a political activist fighting the evil regime of apartheid. It was nothing personal." Gerhardt was subsequently granted amnesty in 1999 by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and his rank of rear admiral restored. Nuclear weapons controversy He claimed that the United States and the Soviet Union met in 1976 to discuss South Africa's nuclear weapons programme, and that the Soviets proposed a pre-emptive strike on the Pelindaba plant. In February 1994, he told Des Blow of the Johannesburg City Press that the Vela incident was the result of a joint Israeli-South African nuclear test, code-named Operation Phoenix. He stated that he had no official knowledge of the alleged test, but was not ready to provide further details. In a subsequent interview with David Albright in March 1994, he stated that no South African warships had been involved, but declined to provide further details. Popular Mechanics contends that the mystery surrounding the incident would finally have been resolved if Gerhardt were a more credible source, while other