46. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Clark) to President Reagan1
SUBJECT
- Prospects for the Embassy Pentecostals
Kenneth Dam forwarded you a memorandum (Tab A) which provides an update on the Pentecostals.2 Briefly, our Embassy in Moscow has been in touch with the two families, the Chmykhalovs and the Vaschenkos, by telephone and expects both to apply for exit permission sometime next week. Simultaneously, our Embassy in Tel Aviv is assisting Lidia Vaschenko submit formal invitations to her family through the appropriate Israeli officials.
In continuing to maintain a low-key approach on this issue, State intends to pursue the following steps: give the Soviets a list of the family members seeking to emigrate, establish regular telephone contact with the families in Chernogorsk, work with the Israelis to get all their visa [Page 160] authorizations and maintain continuous contact with various Pentecostal support groups in the U.S. Already, George Shultz has raised the subject with Dobrynin.3
State’s memorandum alerts you to several obstacles that may arise in the upcoming weeks. These include: delays in the application processing, potential hostile scrutiny by various Pentecostal support groups, release of several family members at a time, and the families’ destinations. State will keep you abreast of developments and will provide you with recommendations for necessary action if such problems arise.
- Source: Reagan Library, Executive Secretariat, NSC Country File, Europe and Soviet Union, USSR (04/13/83–04/15/83). Confidential. Sent for information. Prepared by Dobriansky, who forwarded a draft to Clark on April 20. Reagan initialed this memorandum, indicating he saw it.↩
- Dated April 15; attached but not printed.↩
- See Document 42.↩