28 Refusenik Families Win OK to Leave, Sources Say

Twenty-eight refusenik families will be allowed to emigrate from the Soviet Union from among 400 cases which U.S. officials raised during summit discussions with the Soviet Foreign Ministry this week, a prominent Jewish source said today.

Yuli Kosharovsky, who has been denied permission to emigrate for 17 years, said in a telephone interview that his name was not on the list of 28 prospective emigres that he received from Assistant Secretary of State Richard Schifter.

Neither were the names of other prominent refuseniks who met with President Reagan at a reception Monday at Spaso House, the U.S. ambassador’s residence, where Reagan gave assurances of support to nearly 100 Soviet political dissidents, human rights activists and refuseniks--Jews whose applications for exit visas have been denied.

Kosharovsky said Schifter was given a list of 400 refuseniks on Saturday.

“The Americans made a presentation about these 400 cases, and on 28 of them they received positive answers,” Kosharovsky said.

He said the favorable decisions appeared to more the result of a careful, case-by-case review than of pressure on Soviet officials.

Later in the day, a Western diplomatic source said that the 28 refusenik cases have not been cleared for emigration. The diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Kosharovosky had misunderstood information exchanged at a meeting of six refuseniks and Shifter. The diplomatic source said the 28 cases had not been resolved.

Refuses to Tell Names

Kosharovsky refused to make the names of the 28 families public, and U.S. officials could not be reached for comment.

Other Jewish refuseniks said today that more than a dozen families who previously had been denied permission to emigrate were told immediately before and during the Moscow summit that they could leave.

Refusenik Bella Gulko said the Boris Weinshtock and Iosif Pilmenshtein families of Moscow had received permission to emigrate this week, as well as a retiree she only could identify by the last name Brave.

She said seven Leningrad families had also received permission to emigrate within the past week or 10 days.

The Soviet decisions seemed to have been related to Reagan’s visit, Gulko said, adding that “usually there are only one or two” approvals of exit visas in that length of time.