I rise once more to raise a human rights issue that we had earlier thought would become a relic of the cold war. I am referring to the continued existence of state secrecy refuseniks in Russia. Despite the fact that most persons who wish to leave Russia are able to obtain exit visas. there are still an estimated 150 refusenik families in Russia. Occasionally. human rights activists and Members of the Congress are taken to task for raising cases that are no longer active. Well. let us take a look at two very active cases. both of which are from St. Petersburg. Yuri Rubinov worked at the Vavilov Optical Institute from 1970 until 1991 when he resigned. In July of that year he was refused permission to emigrate supposedly because he possesses state secrets. His last refusal was in June Now. as we know. former secret facilities in Russia have been opening up all over the country. Hardly a week goes by without a newspaper account of the latest visit by Western journalists to some formerly closed city or Russian television reporting from some heretofore secret base in Russia.
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