Valery and Galina Panov demonstrated outside of the Soviet Embassy this morning in behalf of their “very old and dear friend” Dr. Viktor Polsky, the Soviet-Jewish scientist and activist facing prosecution in Moscow on trumped-up charges of reckless driving.
The two former members of Leningrad’s Kirov Ballet, who won their freedom to emigrate from Russia earlier this year, joined placard-carrying members of the Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry who were marching outside the Embassy despite a driving rain storm. The Panovs, who immigrated to Israel, are visiting London to express thanks to the many Britishers who supported their two-year struggle for exit visas. They will resume their ballet careers at the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv Nov. 2 and will perform later in London.
Valery Panov told reporters that as soon as he learned of the demonstration for Polsky he and Galina decided to join it. Asked if he would consider entering the Embassy to present a personal plea, he replied, “That is a very complicated question. Unexpected and dramatic things can happen in Soviet Embassies.”
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.
