Is it a bluff? Or is it serious? Interestingly enoughand we can understand this and respect it. as it is a part of statecraftan important Russian official. the Deputy Minister of the Interior. set forth these ideas when the Soviet emigration regulations in question here first took. as it were. codified legal form in January of this year. and we have. as well. a declaration by a very important Soviet trade official that those who support this amendment will live to rue the day. because they will be charged. it is said. with a breakdown in United StatesSoviet relations over trade. These are very serious statements. and I think every Senator will understand how seriously I take them and how seriously I evaluate them. But it must be said. upon the other side. but with equal frankness. that the Soviet Union is not bluffing. either. they have declared an official policy. which we must expect they will adhere to. Nevertheless. I know before the recent electionI am sure as a courtesy to the President of the United Statesthere was a certain leniency in granting exit visas out of the Soviet Union to Israel without an insistence upon the letter of what is now lawwhich is called by us a ransom and which the Soviets call a proper tax to pay for the cost of the education of professionals and intellectuals in the Soviet Union. The fact is that there was a relaxation and that even now there are further evidences of relaxation. Indeed. there is a piece in the newspaper which says that about 10 percent of those who leave the country who would otherwise be subject to the tax are not being subjected to it.
Keywords matched
emigration visas