freedoms to the Pentecostals and the refusal of the Soviet Union

to permit their emigration,

2) to request that the seven Pentecostals be allowed to reside in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow until they are granted exit visas, and

3) to request that the Embassy extend every possible courtesy to the Pentecostals during their stay.

Most importantly, the adoption of this resolution by this Subcommittee will send a clear signal to the Soviet Union that religious intolerances within their own borders will not go unnoticed.

It will serve to impress upon the Soviet Union the value we place in the international accords signed by the United States and the Soviet Union that guarantee the right of religious freedom and emigration. Finally, it will convey to the Soviet Union our conviction that the Congress, and the American people will not forget the Vashchenko and Chymkhalov families' pending request to emigrate to the United States until the families have reached our shores.

I realize that since the introduction of H. Con. Res. 100 last March there have been a number of developments that have affected the Pentecostals and that the resolution ought to be amended to include the latest information available about their plight.

Therefore, I would welcome an amendment to the resolution which would make reference to 1) the hunger strike begun by Lidiya and Augustina at the end of December, 1981, 2) the transfer of

Lidiya Vashchenko from the United States Embassy in Moscow to
Botkin Hospital where she is undergoing treatment for ailments
resulting from her hunger strike, and 3) the fact that the
Soviet Government has not indicated their intentions regarding
Lidiya Vashchenko once she regains her health.

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, the hunger strike begun by Lidiya and Augustina Vashchenko in December, and Lidiya's subsequent hospitalization has raised once again the need for a strong Congressional response. Many questions loom unanswered: Will Lidiya be allowed to return to the Embassy when she is well? Will the Soviet Government seek to take punitive steps against her? How long will it be before the Soviet Union grants exit visas to the Vashchenko and Chymkhalov families.

There can be no more fitting action by this Subcommittee

in the context of hearings on the subject of religious intolerances than to approve H. Con. Res. 100 and report it favorably to the full Committee.

Thank for this opportunity to appear before the Subcomittee.

AMENDMENT TO H. CON. RES. 100

Page 2, in the first full paragraph of the preamble, strike out ''and'' after the semicolon.

Page 2, in the second full paragraph of the preamble, strike out '': Now, therefore, be it'' and insert in lieu thereof ''; and''.

Page 2, insert the following immediately after the second full paragraph of the preamble:

Whereas Augustina and Lidia Vashchenko began a hunger strike on

December 27, 1981, to protest their treatment by the Soviet
Government;

Whereas Lidia Vashchenko was removed from the United States
Embassy compound in Moscow, away from her family and
American protection, to Botkin Hospital to undergo treatment
for ailments resulting from her hunger strike; and

Whereas the future intentions of the Soviet authorities
regarding Lidia Vashchenko and other members of the

Vashchenko and Chmykhalov families remain unclear: Now,
therefore, be it

Mr. BONKER. We also have with us today Representative Smith from New Jersey, in behalf of his resolution, House Resolution 269,1 that concerns the immigration of Yuli Kosharovsky and his immediate family to Israel.

STATEMENT OF HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Mr. SMITH. Mr. Chairman, prior to getting on to that, I would just like to make a few notes. First, I would like to commend Congressman Frank for his leadership on behalf of the Siberian Seven. I, too, have a resolution that is similar to it. It followed his, and he did take the leadership on that.

Having recently returned from the Soviet Union, after meeting the Siberian Seven and seeing the plight that they have faced, I want to add my feelings of urgency to the matter, that we have to move quickly on this. The Embassy has to, I think, become more accommodating to them. The small room that Sam Gejdenson and I saw is an example. When we met those people and saw the very cramped living conditions that they are under, we came to the realization that the Embassy can be doing more for them.

They are living in a room that is big as our own offices in there. You have seven people trying to live there and to go on with a semblance of normal life, and it is just not there.

Mr. BONKER. Mr. Smith, I want to assure both you and Mr. Frank that this subcommittee is fully aware of the situation in Moscow with the Pentecostals. Indeed, your resolutions are timely. The subcommittee is beginning today its series of hearings on religious persecution, and I think this stands out as a notable example of that persecution that exists within the Soviet Union. So the resolutions are timely.

Mr. SMITH. Mr. Chairman, I would ask for unanimous consent that my statement be included in the record on House Concurrent Resolution 100.

Mr. BONKER. Without objection, so ordered.

[Mr. Smith's prepared statement and attachment follow:]

12-286 0 - 83 - 3

PREPARED STATEMENT OF CONGRESSMAN CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Mr. Chairman, as the sponsor of a similar resolution to House Concurrent Resolution 100, I am pleased that this subcommittee has chosen to take up the issue of the Siberian Seven. This is a timely matter of great concern to all of us, and the House must act quickly as the situations of the Vashchenko and Chmykhalov families grow

worse every day.

While in the Soviet Union during our recess in January, I was able to meet the two families. They are a warm, sincere, and deeply religious group of individuals whose only request is that they be able to practice their Pentecostal faith freely.

Mr. Chairman, for twenty years now, Pentecostals from Chernogorsk, a small mining town 2000 miles east of Moscow, have tried to emigrate from the Soviet Union. There efforts have been unsuccessful. The Soviet authorities have been trying to eliminate

the Pentecostals since the Stalin era.

Members of the Vashchenko and Chmykhalov familes, Mr. Chairman, have suffered job discriminations, beatings, forced abduction of their children for reeducation in state orphanages, terms in labor camps and psychiatric hospitals, and mysterious deaths of family members all in an effort to secure the religious freedom they

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justly deserve.

These twc Familes have been living in virtual captivity in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow for the past 3 years.

Since Christmas of

1981, Augustina and Lida Vashchenko have been on a hunger strike to protest their treatment by Soviet officials.

And just a little over