§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what response has been received to representations for Maria and Anna Gordievsky, with their mother Leila Gordievsky, to be able to come to Britain; and if he will make a statement.
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§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThis case has rightly attracted public concern in the United Kingdom, and has also received sympathetic attention in a number of articles in the Soviet press. We have made repeated oral and written representations to the Soviet Government, including at high levels, about the reunification of the Gordievsky family. The Soviet authorities have frequently indicated that they wish to resolve this matter, but have not given a positive and substantive response to our many representations. Mrs. Leila Gordievsky and her two small daughters, Mariya and Anna, are entirely innocent of any wrong-doing. We believe that there can be no justification for the Soviet authorities' refusal to them of permission to come to Britain to be reunited with Mr. Oleg Gordievsky, in accordance with their clearly expressed wish. The Soviet Government's denial to them of the right to travel stands in clear contravention of the detailed provisions relating to family reunification and freedom of travel in the documents of the conference on security and co-operation in Europe, to which the Soviet Union is a party. We will continue to press this human rights case strongly until the family are granted their right to travel.