Speech #1000019858

I would like to join my colleagues today in the special order bringing to light the problems suffered by Soviet Jewry despite the recent glasnost in the Soviet Union. We cannot allow our efforts on the behalf of Jews in the Soviet Union to lessen. While this recent change in Soviet policy does hold the potential for reforming. in some measurable way. the Soviet political and economic system. it can hardly be termed a decisive turning point when the basic human rights of thousands of Soviet Jews to emigrate are being denied. We applaud the release of some 140 dissidents from Soviet gulags. We cannot forget. however. that these recent internal reforms have been accomplished by a severe tightening of eligibility standards for approval of applications to emigrate. I would like to take this opportunity to bring to the attention of my colleagues the case of the Tsimberov family of Leningrad. Pavel and Victoria Tsimberov. their 21yearold daughter Una. their 24yearold son Dmitri.