An Israeli theatrical producer who just returned from Moscow said today that exit visas may be issued shortly to Valery and Galina Panov provided that they maintain a low profile and desist from anti-Soviet agitation for a reasonable period of time.
Yaacov AGRON, who attended the recent International Theater Institute Congress in the Soviet capital, said he visited the Panovs who were fired from Leningrad’s Kirov Ballet Co. 14 months ago after they applied for exit visas to go to Israel. Agmon said the Panovs told him they still wanted to go to Israel and that they were unable to get work. He said he approached Soviet authorities, including people in the Ministry of Culture which hosted the ITI congress.
According to Agmon, he was told that the Panovs were denied exit visas because “they are troublesome and engage in anti-Soviet agitation.” But the authorities said that if the dancers “keep quiet” for a reasonable time–say two months–they will get their visas. Agmon said he was permitted to relay this information to the Panovs and that he had a “feeling” they would get their visas within a fortnight.
OTHER ACTIVISTS ALSO IN LINE FOR VISAS
Dan Raginsky, a Jewish scientist in Moscow, told the newspaper Maariv today that Soviet authorities are broadly hinting to Jewish activists that they will get visas if they “sit quietly” especially during Communist Party Secretary Leonid I. Brezhnev’s visit to the U.S. beginning next week.
According to Raginsky, 10 Jewish activists were recently summoned to KGB (secret police) headquarters and told that they would get their visas within two years or possibly by the end of this year if they behaved. Four other activists who have been given visas were warned by the authorities that their exit permits would be revoked if their friends continued to “make trouble.”
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.
