The World - News from July 17, 1987

The first Soviet officials to visit Israel in two decades said they have been approached by 20 Jewish emigres from the Soviet Union wanting to go home. Many said they want tourist visas just to visit relatives. However, some were disillusioned with life in Israel. A former Soviet physics professor, Gregori Bartleib, 80, who emigrated 15 years ago, said: “It is not good for me here. I want to go home.” Another elderly man, who declined to give his name, said he wants to return to his family in Samarkand, in Soviet Central Asia.