Speech #960228487

These statistics are similar throughout that country. Last year. a record number of Soviet Jews were allowed to leave the country. Emigration played a larger role in the life of Soviet Jews than ever before. Each month. over 4.200 persons were able to leave the Soviet Union. But this year. it appears that there is a most significant ominous countertrend. According to the Soviet Jewry Research Bureau of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry. the emigration statistics for recent months show a major decrease with the trending beginning in the summer of 1979. By February of this year. the number of monthly emigrations had dropped 3035 percent from the 1979 average. This analysis reports that new restrictions. implemented before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. were not directly connected to Soviet international policies. "The decrease in emigration seems to reflect the introduction of a demand for an invitation (visov) from a close of 1st degree relative." The Soviet Government has begun to use "insufficient kinship of the invitee" on a broader scale than ever before as an excuse to refuse the granting of a visa. In Kiev. where the restrictions are most severe only parents and children qualify. Overall. in the first 3 months of 1980. nearly onethird fewer applicants have been allowed to emigrate than were granted permission last year. And. at the same time. repression has increased in the Soviet Union. The most notable victim of the new Soviet campaign has been Andrei Sakharov. the Noble prizewinning scientist.