(28 Jan 1997) English/Nat
Former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky has paid an emotional visit to the grave of his close friend and fellow dissident Andrei Sakharov.
Sharansky - now Israeli Trade Minister - was expelled from Russia 11 years ago.
He made the pilgrimage on the second day of an official visit to his former homeland.
A champion of the rights of Soviet Jews to leave for Israel, Sharansky spent nine years in Soviet prisons before being released in an East-West prisoner swap in 1986.
Surrounded by cameramen and photographers, Natan Sharansky made his way through a snowy Moscow cemetery Tuesday to finally pay his respects at the grave of his former friend Andrei Sakharov.
Expelled from Russia in 1986, Sharansky was denied permission to return for Sakharov's funeral three years later.
The former dissident made the stop at the outset of a bus trip around the city that he had not seen since K-G-B agents arrested him two decades ago.
Stripped of his Soviet citizenship Sharansky was remarkably back in Russia in official capacity to strengthen relations between Israel and his former homeland.
Crowded by the press, the man who came to symbolise Soviet Jewry's fight to leave Russia for Israel said a prayer for Sakharov, a human rights activist once described as his country's conscience.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Today in Moscow 20 years after I was arrested, I see that even if it looks like it's the same city, when you talk to the people it's a very different country, and the people enjoy life much more deeply and feel more security and confidence and I think it's because of him."
SUPER CAPTION: Natan Sharansky, Israeli Trade Minister
Continuing his tour, Sharansky stopped off at the Sakharov museum, an institution dedicated to the memory of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Looking at Sakharov's prison uniform Sharansky was reminded of his own time spent in one of the hundreds of Soviet prison camps that became known as the "gulag".
The dissident-turned-politician also visited Moscow's main synagogue, where he and other activist Jews used to meet.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Here it was our foreign office, because here we were organising contacts on how to send letters and petitions abroad, here it was our headquarters of our operational department, here we were planning our demonstrations."
SUPER CAPTION: Natan Sharansky, Israeli Trade Minister
Sharansky gradually turned to politics after his emigration to Israel, aspiring to represent the country's large Russian Jewish immigrant population.
He is the first member of the current Israeli government to visit Moscow, leading a large delegation of Israeli officials and businessmen.
For the man once convicted of treason in Russia his return is a personal triumph as well as a bridge-building trip between the two countries.
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