Despite the current U.S. Soviet confrontation, the Kremlin is likely to continue to permit Jewish emigration from the USSR of or near current levels, according to a key State Department official.
Robert W. Forrand, the officer in charge of bilateral relations at the Soviet Desk of the State Department, predicted this in an address to the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council annual assembly here last week. He spoke before the Kremlin arrested and exiled Andrei Sakharov, Russia’s foremost dissident and human rights advocate.
Forrand said the Soviets were likely to maintain the current rate of Jewish emigration — now running at more than 50,000 per year — because it was “in their interest to do so.” He said it was his “personal view” that “while difficulties do lie ahead, the likelihood is that the Russians will not let the current crisis in their relations with the U.S. resulting from the invasion of Afghanistan, seriously affect the emigration process.
“The Soviet Union may wish to continue emigration to ‘score points’ with the U.S. in any future negotiation with Washington on the eventual resumption of normal relations between the two countries,” Forrand suggested.
He also said that under the “compartmentalized” Soviet system — where one government agency may not necessarily be affected by the actions of another — if was likely that the emigration pipeline would remain “relatively unaffected” by the new and hostile relations between Washington and Moscow.
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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.
