The fact that I had to hand officials lists of refuseniks and political prisoners. as did the Speaker. drove home to me the stark reality that prevails even today. If not to assert control over its people. why else does the Kremlin keep Benjamin Charny from getting the cancer treatement in the West that could save his life? Why else prevent Semyon Gluzman from emigrating since 1975? Why else divide spouses and families? And why else has an individual who was in the Army of the Soviet Union from 1973 to 1974. for 11 months. only 10 months on active duty. a civil engineer. whose task in the army. as a civil engineeer. was to build a pool adjacent to an officers club. why else would this individual 14 years later be refused the right to emigrate because he is deemed a security risk. notwithstanding the fact that his deputy commanding officer in 1982 wrote a letter and said that there was no reason for Lev Elbert to be considered a security risk? These are questions that we in the West find so difficult to understand. It is especially difficult today because the once gray and impenetrable Kremlin of old has been transformed under Gorbachev.
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