Trade Union Leader Says Soviets Promised Release of Jewish Prisoners, Easing of Exit Restrictions

Robert Hawke, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, confirmed here yesterday that Soviet officials told him in Moscow last week that they will ease emigration restrictions for Soviet Jews and release Jewish activists now in prison, perhaps including Anatoly Shchransky.

Hawke described his meeting with Aleksei Shibayev, the Soviet trade union chief, to Lean Dulzin, chairman of the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency Executives. Both are here for an international meeting on the problems of Soviet Jewry. Dulzin told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he hoped the Soviet Union would abide by the statements given Hawke.

Hawke, who had come to the Soviet Union after discussing the emigration problem in Israel, first revealed the promises given him to three Jewish activists, Alexsandr Lemer, Viktor Brailovsky and Vladimir Prestin. They made it public Saturday saying that if it took place it would mean “a profound improvement of the emigration policy and it should be responded to positively by the world.” Among the pledges given Hawke was that no Jewish applicant would have to wait more than five years for an emigration visa.

SEE SOVIET FACE-SAVING MOVE

Isi Leibler, president of the executive council of Australia Jewry and the Australian delegate to the meeting here, told the JTA that Hawke, who could conceivably be a Prime Minister of Australia soon is a long-standing friend of the Jewish community. Leibler said Hawke first became interested in the struggle of Soviet Jewry on his first visit to the Soviet Union in 1973 right after the Yom Kippur War At that time he had two days of discussions with Soviet officials on the Mideast. As a member of the governing board of the International Labor Organization, Hawke was again invited to Moscow last August where he spoke with Soviet officials on the problem of Soviet Jews. On his visit last week as a guest of the Soviet trade union, he also held some 15 hours of talks with refusniks.

Observers here noted that by making the pledge to a non-American and a non-Jew, the Soviets could appear not to be giving into pressure from the United States for concessions on emigration. The pledge was announced only three weeks before President Carter is scheduled to meet Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev in Vienna to sign the SALT II treaty. The Carter Administration has also been reportedly urging the Soviet Union to give assurances on the easing of emigration restrictions so that the U.S. can grant the USSR most favored nation trade status in compliance with the Jackson-Vanik Amendment.