Soviet Says It Will Revamp Its Visa-Granting Agencies : But Gives No Hint of Eased Policy

A senior official said today that the Kremlin is revamping its emigration agencies, but he described existing Soviet human rights policy as “humane” and gave no indication that the tough stance on exit visas will change.

Yuri Kashlev, head of the Foreign Ministry’s new humanitarian and cultural relations department, said the changes will be published but he did not say when or provide details.

Left unclear was whether he referred to new laws and procedures or simply to a new administrative structure for the bureaucracy that supervises issuance of emigration documents.

Kashlev spoke of emigration policy in response to an American reporter’s question during a news conference about next month’s meeting in Vienna on European security and cooperation. He will lead the Soviet delegation to the conference, a follow-up to the 1975 Helsinki agreements.

Although the government has become more open about human rights under Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s leadership, increasingly tight ceilings placed on emigration since the late 1970s have not been lifted.

There is no published code governing the granting of exit visas. Those who want them say they are often denied or granted without explanation.

1,000 Requests to Return

In replying to the question, Kashlev touched on one of the Kremlin’s favorite human rights themes by remarking that 1,000 applications are pending from emigres who want to return to the Soviet Union.

The same message has been driven home this week in reports by the official press on two Soviets who returned from the United States.

The issue is likely to be used to rebut Western attacks on Soviet emigration policy during the Vienna meeting.

Charges have been made frequently that the Soviets violate the Helsinki accords by restricting emigration of Jews and others and suppressing religious and human rights groups.

In his defense of Soviet human rights policy, Kashlev said:

“This is not the first month, the first year that we have consistently taken measures so that human contacts, exits and entrances of Soviet citizens, family reunification and such matters were dealt with in a humane way.

‘International Norms’

“In the last year, some specific steps have been taken. We have done a lot to realign our administrative measures to be more in line with international norms. We are perfecting administrative documents on this question.”

He said the government is trying to “improve the work” of agencies involved in granting visas. They range from the KGB secret police to the bureau known as OVIR, which processes the papers.

Kashlev did not elaborate on what was being done.

Since Gorbachev took over in March, 1985, the Kremlin has responded more willingly to questions on human rights and such formerly taboo subjects as emigration. Kashlev did not retreat into the former posture of dismissing questions about human rights as interference in Soviet internal affairs.