Soviet Jewish Group Formed to Aid U.S. Embassy on Emigration

Soviet Jews have formed a special committee to help the U.S. Embassy implement its new emigration policy and to make sure that longtime refuseniks without relatives in the United States are not overlooked, a U.S. official and a leading refusenik said Friday.

The voluntary involvement of Soviet citizens in the new emigration procedures reflects the deep concern of Soviet Jewish activists that the policy was implemented too hastily and without enough consideration for refuseniks who traditionally have counted on American support. Refuseniks are Soviet citizens who have been denied permission to emigrate by the Kremlin.

The Soviet committee will aid in distributing and collecting U.S. immigration-application forms and in updating the list of those refused permission to emigrate, Consul General Max Robinson said.

Robinson said the Soviets approached the embassy with their offer of assistance and that “we agreed because we can use all the help we can get” to deal with the tens of thousands of Soviets who have crowded around the embassy this month to ask questions and obtain application forms.

Robinson said the Soviets involved have the respect of U.S. officials and the Jewish community.

The new U.S. regulations, which went into effect Oct. 1, require that virtually all Soviets allowed to immigrate to the United States have a mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, wife or husband living there. Those who do not have a close relative there should consider seeking immigration to some other country, U.S. officials say.

The policy, which has been controversial, was implemented because of a flood of Soviet citizens now being allowed to emigrate who are seeking permission to move to the United States.

About 80,000 Soviet citizens will be allowed to immigrate to the United States next year under the new U.S. rules, more than from any other country and about 30,000 more than this year, Robinson said. More than 200,000 are expected to be turned down, he said.

Embassy officials have said that “special cases” will not need to prove the existence of a close relative living in the United States.

Officials in Washington will examine a five-page questionnaire that each would-be immigrant is required to complete and then decide who is allowed to go to the United States. Those officials, unless otherwise alerted, will be looking solely at the close-relative requirement.

“We think that having to fill out a questionnaire is certainly less humiliating than having to stand in line for days just to try to make an appointment with an official in the American Embassy,” longtime refusenik Leonid Stonov said in an interview, referring to the previous method of obtaining permission to immigrate. “And we also appreciate that the new system is cheaper.”

But he noted that the new policy “has no established mechanism for recognizing long-term refuseniks.” It is this, he said, that prompted Soviet activists to approach the embassy and offer their help.

“To our minds,” Stonov said, “the new rules were introduced earlier than they should have been. The Soviet Union has not yet approved its new laws on emigration, so there is no protection for us.”

Although draft laws on emigration have been discussed, no changes have been made in the law, and the Jewish community is wary, Stonov said.

He said that although the Kremlin under President Mikhail S. Gorbachev has eased restrictions on its Jewish citizens and permitted large numbers to emigrate, Jews are still subject to persecution.

He said he was arrested earlier this month, along with about 30 other activists, moments after starting to demonstrate in front of the city’s Lenin Library for permission to emigrate.

Six of the activists were jailed for five days; two, including Stonov, were fined 100 rubles (about $160 at the official exchange rate), and the others were released after six hours, he said.

“The situation for Jews in this country still requires monitoring,” Stonov said. “And if the Americans are going to change their immigration policy, we would like to make sure the refuseniks are not forgotten.”