Mr. Speaker. I want to call the attention of our colleagues to the case of Yuri Balovlenkov. the Soviet citizen who was on a hunger strike because he could not get permission to emigrate from the Soviet Union to join his wife. a Baltimore nurse. in the United States. Yesterday. at her behest and because she deliberately took action to save his life. he finally terminated his 36day fast. His wife told him that she had received assurances that he would soon be allowed to emigrate and rejoin her and their 2yearold daughter in this country. Unfortunately. Mrs. Balovlenkov had received no such promises from Soviet authorities but. desperate to save her husbands life. she felt compelled to lie to him and say that she had. Yuri Balovlenkov is one of the original members of the "divided families group"-Soviet citizens married or engaged to Westerners who together began a hunger strike on May 10. Since then. two of the group have emigrated and two others have been promised visas. Mr. Balovlenkov had ended his first fast on the 43d day after he. too. was told that he would be allowed to leave.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigrated visas