Kiev Jews Send Telegram to Nixon Asking Him to Meet with Them Wives of Arrested Jewish Activists Go

Jewish sources in the Soviet Union reported today that a group of Kiev Jews headed by Prof. Vladimir Barboy have sent a telegram to President Nixon at the Kremlin, asking him to meet them during his visit to Kiev this week. They have also written to the Mayor of Kiev, informing him that they are trying to arrange for a meeting with Nixon and asking him to put at their disposal a public hall, in accordance with Soviet law. Barboy served 10 days in jail recently after attempting to enter the Kiev synagogue. Kiev Jews have also protested the termination of telephone service to Jewish activists’ homes.

Meanwhile, the wives of Soviet Jewish activists arrested during Nixon’s visit have gone on a hunger strike in Moscow in protest of the detention of their husbands. Ludmila Prussakov, wife of Valentine Prussakov, stated on the telephone from Moscow to a member of the “35 Committee” that “the KGB have arrested our husbands and we don’t even know where they are and what is happening to them. It is good to know that we have friends abroad who are taking an interest. We are on a hunger strike in protest against the detention of our husbands. There is nothing we can do. We are driven to the limits of despair.”