Joined by Love but Divided by Politics, They Seek Emigration OK : Summit Gives Hope to Separated Soviet-U.S. Couples

When Michael Smith, an American, and Soviet citizen Nina Fyodorovna Ilynoy married in Moscow in April, 1981, they expected to be living together in California a few months later.

But, after more than five years of waiting, $25,000 spent on seven trips, sky-high telephone bills and many lonely nights and dashed hopes, the couple is still apart. He lives in Burbank, working as a $25,000-a-year telecommunications technician, and she remains in Moscow, as a dispatcher at a construction company.

Thrust Into Spotlight

They are among about 20 divided Soviet-U.S. couples thrust into the spotlight as the leaders of their two countries prepare to meet in Iceland this weekend. The stories of these spouses vary in details, but they share a timeless bond-- lovers united against a system that keeps them apart.

“There are many things governments can do, but they cannot prevent people from falling in love,” Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) said at a news conference here Wednesday.

The problem, though, is that a government can prevent people from living together. Simon and dozens of other senators and congressmen, along with a group called Divided Spouses Coalition, have been lobbying intensely on behalf of the couples, trying to persuade the Soviet Union to let the Russian spouses leave for the United States.

Now, just before the Iceland summit between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, there is new hope. For the Soviets, allowing the spouses to leave would be “good public relations,” Simon said.

Hoping for Compassion

The spouses and their allies are pressing their case amid talk of intermediate-range missiles and spies, putting it in a context of human rights and hoping to ignite a spark of compassion in Reykjavik. Smith said U.S. officials told him in Moscow recently that their plight will be on the agenda in Iceland.

“We have a lot invested, and our love is very strong,” he said in an interview Wednesday.

Many of the spouses met while the American was visiting the Soviet Union on vacation or was assigned there on business. Though few of the Soviet citizens were allowed to follow their spouses home to the United States, efforts to bring them together occasionally have paid off.

Appearing at the news conference was a happy, newly reunited couple, Roman Kuperman, 29, of Moscow, and Fran Pergericht, 34, of Chicago. With them was their 6-month-old daughter, Natalie.

Pergericht said it was “a fantastic day for us,” while her husband recalled how, during the four years they were unable to live together, it was “very much depressing” to say goodby after their visits. Without explanation, the Soviet government allowed Kuperman to emigrate a few days ago.

‘A Difficult Case’

Smith knows the frustration of waiting. Seven times he has had to leave Moscow without his wife. Every six months she reapplies to the Soviet government to join her husband, but each time she is told that hers is “a difficult case,” Smith said.

Now, he said, he is “much more optimistic” because of the summit and because Kuperman and Pergericht and another couple have been reunited.

“At the same time,” he said, “I am at the point that I don’t want to get too excited.”

His newest hope, he said, is “that the Soviets will realize it is important to resolve this. We are such a small number of people. This would be a good way for them to show their sincerity.”

Meanwhile, time is no ally. Smith is 37, his wife, 31. “We’ve been wanting to have children the last three, four years,” he said. But he said they have waited because “I feel strongly that I want to be there when the baby is born.” He added: “We’re not getting any younger.”

Eager for Breakthrough

And the $25,000 spent on trips to and from Moscow could have been a down payment on a home, Smith said.

Smith’s family is also eager for a breakthrough. Nina has never met her husband’s mother and father, who live in Reseda. “My family is very eager to meet her,” Smith said. “They send her gifts.”

Smith’s mother, Cecelia Smith, called her daughter-in-law “a very beautiful girl. . . . We’re pulling for this. We keep hoping.”