From June 27 until late September 1978 the two families resided in the waiting room of the Embassy without any facilities for food preparation. privacy. or washing of clothing. They were provided then a small apartment in the Embassy for their use but a classic illustration of a catch 22 developed. The Embassy staff and then Ambassador Malcolm Toon felt that they were compelled repeatedly to urge them to leave so they could return to their home to pursue emigration in the prescribed way. But. no guarantees could be made for their safety and it was likely that charges would have been pressed for border crossing. with the penalty of 10 years in labor camps. In the fall of 1979 when Thomas Watson became the American Ambassador. support for the families increased with a corresponding decrease in pressure to leave. But the dilemma persists to this day. Numerous initiatives. including resolutions from the Congress. have attempted to move this situation off dead center. In a conversation I had with Sergey Chetverikov. the counsel at the Soviet Embassy here in Washington. I asked simply that the seven Baptists be allowed to leave the Embassy in Moscow and emigrate to any other country. I pointed out that the families might be more inclined to leave. since he placed the blame for slowing down the emigration process upon the recalitrant families and their American Embassy hosts. if the Soviets would grant assurances that they would expedite their emigration applications. To this question and others about what could be done to help alleviate tension and facilitate a rapid solution he was very cool. But as I departed he did suggest that we stay in touch about the situation.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration border crossing