Sakharov Wife Reportedly Gets OK to Leave

Soviet authorities have told Yelena Bonner, wife of Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, that she can leave for the West immediately to get medical treatment, a West German newspaper reported today.

The mass-circulation daily Bild, quoting “reliable sources” in Moscow, said Bonner, 60, was told by Soviet police a few days ago that she could “fly immediately to wherever she wants.”

Sakharov, the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, had gone on several hunger strikes in an effort to win an exit visa for his wife, who reportedly suffers from an eye ailment that could blind her. He was in the middle of another fast when permission for Bonner’s departure finally came, according to Bild.

The Hamburg-based newspaper is believed to have good sources in the Soviet capital.

Couple ‘Overjoyed’

Bild quoted its Moscow sources as saying Sakharov and Bonner were “overjoyed at the sudden exit permit.”

The newspaper said Bonner would be allowed to spend two or three months in the West and return to rejoin her husband.

Sakharov, the Soviet Union’s most prominent human rights advocate, and his wife were sent to internal exile in the closed Soviet city of Gorky in January, 1980. Their plight has become a major issue for Western governments and human rights groups.

Sakharov, a physicist, is credited with developing the Soviet hydrogen bomb. Soviet authorities have refused to let him leave for the West on grounds that he has scientific information vital to state security.