CRISIS IN THE KREMLIN : Emigres Weep and Shout for Joy as Story Unfolds

Some wept and others shouted with joy, but jubilation among Soviet emigres in Southern California over the collapse of the Kremlin coup was tempered Wednesday by continued uncertainty about events in their homeland.

Leaders from religious groups and immigrant enclaves across the Southland shared the feelings, welcoming the return of President Mikhail S. Gorbachev to power but expressing fears about what lies ahead in a country still rife with economic, ethnic and political problems.

“It’s like going from the frying pan into the fire, and now we’re back in the frying pan,” said Father Stephen Hallick of St. Andrew’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Hollywood. Bob Meth, head of the Soviet Jewry Commission of the Los Angeles Jewish Community Relations Committee, said: “We don’t know quite what is going to happen next. . . . We are breathing a collective sigh of relief today, but I think it is premature to get euphoric.”

Soviet emigres from Glendale to Santa Monica remained fixed to their television sets throughout the day, tracking every new development in their homeland with anxiety. Nervous volunteers at a Lithuanian advocacy group in Atwater Village complained about skimpy news reports from their Baltic republic, while Jewish emigres at a Fairfax restaurant cheered the return of afternoon soap operas as a sign the crisis had ebbed.

Events in Moscow moved so quickly that copies of the weekly Russian-language newspaper Panorama were being delivered to shops in West Los Angeles on Wednesday with the headline, “Curfew Is Introduced,” as employees and customers listened to TV and radio reports about leaders of the coup fleeing the Soviet capital.

“So many times, we have had bad events that monopolize world headlines, it is about time we had a happy ending,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in West Los Angeles.

At the International Deli on Santa Monica Boulevard, popular among Russian emigres, one regular customer arrived Wednesday beaming with joy. “I am so happy, I haven’t words to say how happy I am,” the woman said. “My smile is my words. That is all I can say.”

The failed coup gave new hope even to emigres from republics across the Soviet Union who have been critics of Gorbachev. The Rev. Vatche Hovsepin, archbishop for the Western diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, described Gorbachev as “the most hated man in the Soviet Union” but predicted that the Soviet leader’s temporary ouster will make him more sensitive to the needs of recalcitrant republics.

“At least we feel secure that we are not going to be harassed by the KGB and others,” said Hovsepin, spiritual leader to about 200,000 people of Armenian descent in Southern California. “People are not afraid any more. Before, they were afraid of being sent to Siberia or being killed. Now, they express themselves freely. They are for principle, and they will die for principle.”

At Plummer Park in West Hollywood, a gathering spot for many of Southern California’s estimated 25,000 to 60,000 Soviet Jews, emotions ran high at Felix Kogosov’s English class at the park’s senior citizen center.

Faina Fradkin, who came to the United States from Kiev in 1976, seemed to speak the minds of her classmates.

“Ever since all this started, I have been nervous. The neighbors would come to my apartment, and we would cry,” said Fradkin, who had been unable to get through on the phone to her son in the Soviet Union, despite hours of dialing. “Today, I opened the door and we knew that the news was good, and they kissed me, and we cried again.

“I hope the governments of the United States and other countries will help Mr. Gorbachev. I’m sure he’ll do good for the Russian people,” she said.

In a nearby synagogue, the Chabad Russian Outreach Center, Rabbi Boris Zaltzman pronounced the day’s events miraculous.

“All of us know what Russia is,” he said, gesturing at 20 immigrants engrossed in Bible study after morning prayers. “We thought it would finish with shooting people with tanks--they would killed 300 people, and everyone would run away. But, thank God, it didn’t happen. Now we hope can come the biggest miracle--the coming of the Messiah.”

Times staff writer Paul Feldman contributed to this story.