Speech #960205645

It has also claimed another victim: the Soviet Jew. While not directlyor even indirectlyinvolved in any way in the aggression against Afghanistan. the fate of the Soviet Jewish community has become inextricably linked to it. because its wellbeing is closely tied to Soviet concern about American opinion and actions. While the "old men" in the Kremlin were concerned about mostfavorednation trade status. the ratification of Salt II. and a host of other bilateral negotiations with the United States. we. here in the Congress. and the administration were able to exercise some leverage with respect to Soviet Jewish emigration. "PrisonersofConscience" and related matters. That is not to say that we were always. or even often successful. in reversing Soviet policy with respect to Soviet Jewry. However. we have. over the last number of years. seen enough evidence to suggest that what we said. our resolutions. our adoptions of prisoners and "Refusniks." our CoNGREsSIONAL REcoRD statements. our participation In the annual vigils of freedom. our individual and "Dear Colleague" letters to Soviet officiat. among other acts. did indeed have an impact. Our actions. combined with those policy decisions that the Soviets hoped we. would makeSalt II. trade concessions. and so forthresulted in many of the "Prisonersof Conscience" being released last April. and in emigration figures for the year 1979 that surpass previous years. The situation in Russia remained one of discrimination and repression. but at least we were making some progress on a number of fronts. With the invasion of Afghanistan came a distinct chill in the relations between our two countries. And as we quite properly- sought different meanseconomic and diplomaticto convey our outrage to the Soviet officials. we similarly found our leverage with respect to Soviet Jewry diminished. This fact was immediately evidenced in the newest emigration statistics that we have received: In 1979. 51.300 Jews were allowed to leave the Soviet Union. Emigration peaked in October when 4.746 left. That figure declined by 30 percent in Decemberthe month of the invasionand January saw a further decline in the number of emigres. Beyond that. OVIR officesfor processing prospective emigreshave been closed in Kiev. Chernovtsy. MogilevPololsk. and Tashkent. and those Jews continuing to seek to emigrate have been subject to a new and more malicious round of repression. harassment. Add to all of this the shameful but nonetheless bold action of decreeing internal exile for Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov. While we are concerned that our ability to influence the Kremlin may be diminished. this is not a time to retreat or back away from our attempts to do so.