Bonner Visits White House, Misses Reagan
President Reagan did not meet Soviet dissident Yelena Bonner at the White House this week because of concern that such a meeting would jeopardize U.S. efforts to win freedom for jailed Soviet dissidents, U.S. officials said today.
Instead, Bonner, wife of Soviet dissident Andrei D. Sakharov, conferred Tuesday with Reagan’s national security adviser, John M. Poindexter, at the White House.
Bonner, who has been in the United States since December for medical treatment, was “not happy with the meeting” she had with Poindexter, officials said.
The Washington Post today quoted them describing the meeting as “cool and correct.”
Ironically, Reagan in 1976 sharply criticized President Gerald R. Ford for refusing to meet with Soviet dissident Alexander I. Solzhenitsyn and suggested the Administration feared that the meeting would displease the Kremlin.
Administration officials said Reagan decided against meeting with Bonner because he was concerned about the repercussions it might have on efforts to win freedom for other Soviets who wanted to leave their country.
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