Only Soviet Black Marketeers Have Questionnaires : At U.S. Embassy, a Scene of Frustration

A crowd of frustrated Soviet citizens milled about in a drizzle outside the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday, hoping desperately to get approval to emigrate to the United States.

It was Day 2 of the new, more restrictive U.S. policy on immigration, and the consular staff had already run out of the new five-page questionnaire that must be completed by anyone wishing to settle in the United States.

The day before, black marketeers had stood in line and got the allotted five copies per person, and on Tuesday they were selling them for 50 rubles apiece, about $80 at the official exchange rate.

Now, even the black marketeers had sold out.

“Move back, please, move back,” a Soviet policeman shouted through a bullhorn.

‘Slightly Jerky Start’

“We’re off to a slightly jerky start,” Consul General Max Robinson acknowledged. He said he had had 30,000 copies of the questionnaire and that they were distributed within 3 1/2 hours Monday.

Other U.S. officials told reporters that there would be no more questionnaires until today, but this word had not reached the people in the crowd.

They stopped an American reporter and appealed for help. Some wept, and they paid no attention to her explanation that she was not an official and could not help.

Some had come to Moscow from Armenia, others from Uzbekistan and the Ukraine. All hoped to leave, and for myriad reasons. They were unsure about how the change in U.S. policy might affect them--and fearful about what might happen to them if they are forced to stay on here. They wanted to talk with someone, anyone.

“I am Jewish,” one said. “I live in Tashkent. Just in the last six months, someone has been posting leaflets near my house saying, ‘Jews get out or we will kill you.’ ”

She said she was Viola Shenker, 48, a medical researcher, and that she had been denied permission to emigrate 10 years ago.

“They have started marking houses with crosses, and that means they are watching you,” she said. “I can’t stay much longer in Tashkent, I know. But because I am Jewish, I will not be able to get a job in another city. I have no relatives in the United States.”

‘What Should I Do?’

She dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief, and added: “Tell me, am I stuck here? Will I die here? What should I do?”

There were no clear answers to her questions. But U.S. officials say that under the new policy, most Soviets who do not have a mother, father, brother, sister or child living legally in the United States are likely to have a long wait before they are permitted to emigrate.

More than 200,000 Soviet people seeking to leave for the United States next year are expected to be turned away. On the other hand, said Robinson, the consul general, U.S. officials expect that about 80,000 will be allowed to emigrate in 1990, more than from any other single country and about 30,000 more than in 1989.

The latest exodus from the Soviet Union comes after nearly 70 years of an up-and-down U.S. immigration policy. Historians identify three earlier waves of emigration from the Soviet Union.

Revolution, Famine

The first came in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and the widespread famine that followed it. Then Josef Stalin closed the gates in the 1930s, and only a handful of people were permitted to leave until after World War II, when many Soviets in displaced persons camps in Europe stayed in the West. The third wave was in the 1970s, when about 200,000 people emigrated, most of them traveling on Israeli visas.

But in the early 1980s, the gates again were virtually closed, and the United States, citing human rights, championed the cause of those who wished to go.

Attracting Attention

U.S. officials have advised people without close relatives in the United States to consider emigrating to other countries. But for the moment, the crowds in front of the embassy still have their sights set on the United States, and they are trying to attract attention to their individual cases--sometimes in novel ways.

“Do you know of any organization in the United States that takes a special interest in twins?” asked Alexander Manosov, 24, of Leningrad, who was flanked by his identical twin, Grigory. “We are Jewish and we are persecuted,” he said, “but I am afraid that is no longer enough.”

A medical doctor who identified herself only as Luba said her family lived in a region in the Ukraine near Chernobyl, where radiation levels were thought to be still high after the 1986 nuclear accident. About 100,000 people were evacuated after the disaster, and the news agency Tass said in August that it might be necessary to evacuate 100,000 more.

Worried About Children

“They tell us we can’t get another apartment, and each day I am worried about the health of my three children,” she said. “Do you think this will be considered a good enough reason for me to be allowed into America?”

The questions spilled out, one on top of another.

“I have seven people in my family, but they only gave me five copies of the questionnaire,” a woman said. “What should I do?”

“Do I need to submit proof that my wife’s mother lives in California?” a man asked. “If so, what is considered proof?”

Robinson was asked why the people in front of the embassy seemed so confused, and he responded with a little irritation.

“I sure don’t know,” he said, “because I personally answered about 6,000 questions yesterday.”

The questions arise in part because U.S. officials are, for the first time, in the uncomfortable position of being forced to defend their immigration policy in the Soviet Union.

Robinson rejected the suggestion that the United States--after demanding for so long that the Soviet government permit freer emigration, and implying for so long that a place would be found for every Soviet immigrant--should be doing more to accommodate people.

Matter of Priority

“We cannot be the sole destination for those who want to leave,” he said. “If someone feels they must move soon, but they do not have a close relative in the United States, they should consider another country. It’s a matter of priority.

“I do not see any contradiction between our principled stand on the basic right of people to be allowed to emigrate and the fact that there simply is only a certain number of people we can accept and humanely process in a given period of time.”

But Alexander Terminasean, a 35-year-old Armenian who wants to get away from the ethnic hostility between Armenians and neighboring Azerbaijanis, disagreed.

“I understand they can’t let everyone in,” he said, “but the way they are implementing this new system is horrible, confusing, and doesn’t bring honor to your country.”

Most of the Soviet people crowded together in front of the embassy said they were used to information shortages and standing in lines, and that they understood the U.S. position.

One, Vitaly Slovuter, said: “The Americans have a right to revise their policy, to update their list. Certainly everyone can’t go.” He said he is a Christian and that he, his wife and five children want to emigrate because of religious persecution.

But nearly everyone in the crowd said they did not completely understand the new policy, and so were reluctant to leave the area, even to eat, for fear of missing some opportunity.

Dozens of people followed the reporter to a car parked at the end of the block, asking questions every few steps.