10 Spouses Promised Soviet Visas Still Wait

A week after word that 10 Soviet “refuseniks” would be allowed to leave the Soviet Union to join relatives in the United States, none has received an exit visa.

State Department officials in Washington had announced that the Soviets agreed to allow 10 people to emigrate in connection with the Geneva summit between Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and President Reagan.

But a week later the 10, all of whom had for years been refused permission to leave, still had no exit visas. A U.S. Embassy official said today that some of them have been contacted by the Soviet Interior Ministry but none has been told to apply for a visa.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to say how many of the 10 had been called by Soviet officials.

“The numbers don’t mean much at this point since no one has yet received a visa,” the official said.

Eight Mates on List

A woman who answered the telephone at the Soviet office that issues visas said no information was available on the status of the 10.

A list issued in Washington, but as yet not acknowledged publicly by Soviet officials, carried the names of eight Soviets with American spouses, one person who has other relatives in the United States and Abe Stolar, who was brought to the Soviet Union from Chicago by his parents in 1931, when he was 19.

Stolar did not answer telephone calls today, but as of Thursday he had heard nothing about his request for visas for himself and his family.

Irina McClellan, who for 11 years has been trying to join her husband, Woodford, of Charlottesville, Va., said she had received no word from Soviet officials.

“In the beginning it was difficult,” the 43-year-old Mrs. McClellan said by the telephone. “But now I’m just waiting again.”