Can’t Readjust to Soviet Life, Homesick Emigre Finds

A homesick immigrant from the Soviet Union who denounced the United States and went back to his homeland in October is returning to America because he had problems readjusting to Soviet life, sources said Friday.

Ifim Balikin was one of at least 14 immigrants who chose to return to the Soviet Union in the last two months and the fifth who has made known a decision to go back to the United States.

Balikin, who was factory worker in Kiev, is to return today on a Pan American World Airways flight from Moscow, a source close to him said. Another source said he had received phone calls from two people saying the former Brooklyn resident was coming back because he could not readjust to the Soviet Union.

A Pan American spokeswoman said there was an Ifim Balikin on the passenger list of Pan Am Flight 65 due to land this afternoon in New York.

Disgruntled With U.S. Values

Before returning to the Soviet Union on Oct. 27, Balikin said at a news conference he was disgruntled with U.S. values and could not find the freedom he sought in the United States. He also said he was homesick.

Another immigrant, Sanya Gonta, left with her family for the Soviet Union on Nov. 6 but returned to the United States six days later. Gonta said the Soviets did not try to block their departure.

Gonta said she met Balikin when they both were applying for exit visas.

“He said he was very anxious to return to the Soviet Union, and he wanted for a long time to go back,” Gonta said. “I don’t know what happened.”

Gonta said she received a phone call about 10 days ago from a woman who lived with Balikin in Brooklyn, who said he had called her from Kiev, and “he was upset and wanted to come back.

‘Such Tremendous Changes’

“In our case, we didn’t realize that there were such tremendous changes and it was a shock,” Gonta said. “I couldn’t adjust . . . anymore. Once you are a free person you can’t be there (the Soviet Union).”

Balikin emigrated to the United States in the spring of 1977 and worked in the United States as a tailor.

Gonta, her husband, David, and their children, Alexander, 19, and Igor, 14, emigrated to the United States about 10 years ago, settling in Jersey City, N.J.

They were among 13 Soviet emigrants who announced at a Washington news conference on Nov. 4 that they did not like life in the United States, could not acclimate and were homesick, and then returned to Soviet Union.

After five days, the Gontas decided they did not like living in the Soviet Union, received help from the American Consulate and returned to the United States on Nov. 15.