Word: medvedkov
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...white-haired man with owlish glasses opened the door, took one look at the two Americans with over-stuffed knapsacks, and said softly, "Welcome." Yureii Medvedkov took their coats, and offered them tea. A glance around the living-room, accompanied by Yureii's explanations in English, gave visual evidence of the Medvedkov's many friends in the West. Dozens of familiar American "no-nukes" bumper-stickers were pasted to the walls and bookshelves. Hanging on the wall above the couch were two patch-work sections from the "women's peace ribbon," a five-mile long needlework collection which was wrapped...
...Soviet Union anything "unofficial" is basically illegal--only the government's own "peace group" is sanctioned. Consequently, members of the Medvedkov's group are harassed by the government, which tries to discredit them as "anti-Soviets." Many have been subjected to arrest or forced detainment in psychiatric hospitals, where they undergo dangerous chemical and physical abuse...
Yureii and Olga Medvedkov, Dina Zisserman, and many other members of the group are also refuseniks. To Yureii Medvedkov, the right to emigrate is one of a broad slate of human rights that are indivisible from peace activism. "To be a peace activist is a right," he insists. Refuseniks, by applying to leave have already crossed into a realm of dissent which sets them apart from ordinary Soviet citizens. While simply wanting to leave is not usually considered dissent in Western countries, a desire to leave is considered tantamount to treason in the Soviet Union. As a result refuseniks...
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