Jewish sources in the Soviet Union have reported that Yuli Tartakovsky, the prominent Kiev activist who has gone into hiding following the receipt of yet another army call-up order, has been warned by KGB officials of the consequences of his action to himself and his mother, Para Tartakovsky, a beating engineer. He has been harassed over a long period of time, since the submission of his first application for an exit visa, which had been turned down.
By taking part in various protest actions, he had received army call-up papers. But in reply to a letter he sent to Soviet Defense Minister, Marshal Grechko, he was informed by the army authorities that the Red Army considered him “undesirable” and he would therefore not be drafted. Recently, presumably at the instigation of the KGB, the army once again ordered him to report for military service. Unwilling to do so, Tartakovsky has gone into hiding. All attempts by the KGB and the police to locate him have remained unsuccessful.
PROSECUTION CHARGES LOOMING
Frustrated by their failure, the KGB last week summoned Tartakovsky’s mother and two other Jewish activists from Kiev, Kim Friedman and Ilya Zlobinsky, to their offices, Jewish sources reported.
The three were told by the Soviet secret police that unless Tartakovsky gives himself up within a short time, both he and his mother would be prosecuted on charges of contact with foreign citizens (“representatives of international Zionism”) and of anti-Soviet activities. They hinted the two might even be charged with treason, which, in the Soviet Union, carries the death penalty.
If Tartakovsky does emerge from his hide-out, following the threats, and if indeed he is drafted to the army, this means that he will not be able to leave the Soviet Union for a period of no less than seven years, the sources said. This includes two years of army service and at least five more years, a period which the Soviet authorities have hitherto refused to grant exservicemen exit visas.
There is also the grave danger that if he is drafted, the slightest “incident” engineered by the KGB might lead to the imposition of a long-term prison sentence, Jewish sources stated.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
