Sakharov Phones Family in U.S., Confirms End of Fast
Soviet dissident Andrei D. Sakharov spoke with relatives today for the first time in six years, saying that he had ended his hunger strike and confirming that his wife is coming to the United States for medical treatment.
Hailing the telephone conversation “as a major breakthrough,” Sakharov’s wife’s daughter, Tatiana Yankelevich, said she learned that the 64-year-old Nobel laureate’s “only real health problem is a heart ailment.”
Sakharov’s wife, Yelena Bonner, told her daughter and son-in-law, Efrem Yankelevich, in a 24-minute conversation from Gorky that Sakharov “has ended his hunger strike,” which he started to convince Soviet officials to allow Bonner to travel to the West for medical care.
Sakharov, speaking to his stepchildren and mother-in-law, said he had lost 44 pounds and weighed only about 130 pounds when he abandoned the fast.
Bonner said she will remain with her husband in Gorky for a month and then travel to Italy for treatment for glaucoma and Boston for treatment of a heart problem, but dates for the three-month trip have not been decided on.
“It is psychologically difficult to leave” Sakharov, Bonner said.
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