Shcharansky, Kin Reunited, Fly to Israel

Former Soviet dissident Anatoly Shcharansky was reunited with his family Monday for the first time since he was sent to a Soviet prison in 1978, and his crying mother said she was “happy to be at last with all my children.”

The Jewish human rights activist and his mother, 78-year-old Ida Milgrom, both thanked “all who made this possible” at a brief news conference at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport.

Shcharansky, 38, was freed in an East-West prisoner exchange last February, and five members of his family were allowed to emigrate from the Soviet Union on Monday.

Airport Meeting

They flew to Vienna, and Shcharansky, who now lives in Israel, was there to meet them in a reunion in the privacy of an airport lounge. The six then came to Israel.

Hugging his mother, Shcharansky said: “This is a very exciting moment. . . . But it is not simply wonderful. It is an important lesson that no quiet diplomacy, even at the highest levels, can help if it isn’t accompanied by a strong public campaign to convince the Soviet Union to let our people go.”

The last time Shcharansky saw his mother was 20 months ago when she visited him at the prison, and he had not seen his brother, Leonid, 39, since April, 1980. The other family members are Leonid’s wife, Raya, and their sons, Alexander, 14, and Boris, 1.

They arrived in Vienna on a flight of the Soviet airline Aeroflot after being subjected to rigorous customs checks in Moscow, where they were seen off by 30 well-wishers.

Accused as Spy

Jailed for nine years in the Soviet Union on espionage charges, Shcharansky came to Israel six months ago after being freed in the prisoner exchange carried out in Berlin. He had been convicted of spying for the United States, a charge that both Shcharansky and Washington denied.

In June, he disclosed that the Soviets had agreed to allow his family to emigrate as part of the prisoner exchange agreement.

“I am happy, happy, happy to be at last with all my children,” his mother said as she sat between her two sons, holding their hands. Her remarks in Russian were translated by Anatoly Shcharansky.

Milgrom said in Moscow that she had seen him only six times, on rare prison visits, after he was sentenced.

Leonid Shcharansky told reporters it was “very, very good to be here on our land. I am very happy that the case of Shcharansky has ended just now.”

‘Hope They Get Nothing’

When asked for comment about his family’s emigration, Anatoly Shcharansky said in English: “They (the Soviets) wanted to get something for this. I hope they get nothing.”

He was also asked if his feelings about the Soviet Union have changed.

He replied: “My feelings didn’t change when I was arrested, or when I was a prisoner. I will probably change my attitude to the Soviet Union only when all the Jews who want to go are released.”