Emigration a Soviet Affair, Thatcher Is Told

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said today that Kremlin officials told her emigration rights for Soviet Jews are purely an “internal affair,” Soviet Jewish activist Josef Begun reported.

Tass press agency quoted Thatcher as telling Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev that she was satisfied with the results of her five-day visit that ended today.

Thatcher said goodby to Gorbachev this morning and flew to Tbilisi, the Georgian capital at the edge of the Caucasus Mountains, for a day of sightseeing and talks with local officials before heading home.

She had expressed a desire to visit one of the Soviet Union’s 15 republics after her talks in Moscow, and British sources said she was delighted with the choice.

Begun, a 55-year-old Hebrew teacher, and his wife, Inna, met with Thatcher for a one-hour breakfast today at the British Embassy.

He was pardoned in February after serving more than three years of a seven-year term for alleged anti-Soviet activities. He repeatedly has been refused permission to emigrate to Israel.

Begun told reporters Thatcher said she talked to Gorbachev and other officials about Jewish emigration. He quoted Thatcher as saying that Soviet officials appeared “nervous on this problem.”

Begun said the fact that he was allowed to meet with Thatcher was a sign that Soviet society is becoming “more open and free.”