 In November, General Secretary of the Union of Soviet Writers Alexey Surkov admitted that the writers were in custody and gave an assurance that "legality" of the trial would be observed.The Soviet public learned of the arrest of the writers only in January 1966, three months after their arrest, when "Izvestia" published an article about the case entitled "The Turncoats", described Sinyavsky and Daniel as "were-wolves" and "renegades" guilty of "high treason".Referencing foreign criticism, it warned that no leniency would be shown to the defendants.