Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger may meet with Sen. Henry M. Jackson (D. Wash.) on the issue of Soviet emigration policy after Kissinger returns April 10 from his vacation in Mexico, the State Department indicated.
It is also likely that Kissinger will discuss with other members of Congress or with the press the substance of his discussions with Soviet leaders in Moscow for three days last week after he returns in mid-April. He reported to President Nixon on Friday on the results of his Moscow trip. Aides to key Senators on the issue of Soviet emigration and Soviet-American trade said they had no word from the State Department as to when they expected to hear from Kissinger.
State Department spokesman George Vest, asked Friday by the JTA if he would provide some information on Kissinger’s discussion of emigration in Moscow, replied. “I do not think that it would be helpful to the persons themselves to go into details.” The JTA reporter then asked whether, by “persons” Vest was referring to the 1600 Soviet Jews whose names Kissinger took to Moscow who have been refused exit visas for Israel. Vest said “the subject was discussed” and “I am not going to say anything more at all.”
A senior State Department official said that while in Moscow. Kissinger obtained some “clarifications” from Soviet officials on the emigration issue that he would pass on to the Senators sponsoring the Jackson amendment. The official indicated these might be interesting toward a compromise but he gave no indication on what they might be.
It was also reported that Valery Panov tried to contact Kissinger in Moscow last week but his effort reportedly was rejected by Kissinger’s aides. Panov reportedly tried, through telephone calls and private contacts, to relay word to Kissinger’s staff that he wanted to meet with the Secretary or his aides to discuss his long and futile effort to emigrate with his wife. Galina. (Joseph Polakoff)
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.
