Shcharansky Arrives in U.S.
Soviet Jewish dissident Anatoly Shcharansky, whose imprisonment on spy charges stirred worldwide protests, arrived in the United States for the first time today, vowing to speak out for “those I left behind . . . 200,000 Soviet Jews who have expressed their right to emigrate but who can’t join their people.”
Shcharansky was mobbed by more than 200 well-wishers at Kennedy International Airport shouting “Welcome, Natan,” the Hebrew name he chose for himself when he reached Israel in February after serving nine years in Soviet prisons and labor camps.
More than a dozen police formed a human wall around him and pushed through the crowd to a limousine which took him to a Manhattan hotel, where he was to spend the day resting.
Shcharansky will spend 10 days in the United States, addressing a mass rally on behalf of Soviet Jews in New York on Sunday and meeting President Reagan and congressional leaders in Washington next week.
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