Soviets invite dissident

Press, 4 February 1987, Page 10

Soviets invite dissident

NZPA-Reuter Moscow The dissident physicist, Andrei Sakharov, freed from internal exile in December, is being invited to participate in air international forum in Moscow later this month to discuss world peace, say Soviet officials. Yevgeny Velikhov, vicepresident of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and chief sponsor of the threeday meeting, said invitations had gone to hundreds of world scientific, cultural, religious, and business figures. Dr Sakharov said he had so far not received an invitation to the forum, to be held from February 14 to 16 under the slogan

“For a Non-Nuclear World, For the Survival of Mankind.” If the invitation is confirmed, it would be the first time the academician and 1975 Nobel Peace Laureate had been invited to attend such a meeting. Dr Sakharov, a member of the team that developed the Soviet hydrogen bomb and a holder of five State prizes, proclaimed his open criticism of Kremlin policies in the late 1960 s and became spiritual father of the dissident movement. He returned to Moscow only six weeks ago after his release from seven years of exile in the Volga city of Gorky.