U.S. to Admit Soviet Sailor Found Off Japan

The United States has granted entry to Valery Polyanin, 33, a Soviet sailor who jumped ship off the coast of northern Japan, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said Thursday.

Polyanin, a crewman of the 2,300-ton Soviet trawler Babushkina, was found by Japanese fishermen Feb. 14 floating in a rubber life raft about seven miles off the northern tip of Japan’s main island of Honshu.

Kyodo news service reported that Polyanin had sought asylum “to study art.”