Born in 1944 in Mordovia, into a traditionally Jewish family, he began applying for a visa to emigrate to Israel in 1968 but was always refused permission. He then joined a group of Zionists, who were planning to hijack an aircraft to fly to Sweden. In June 1970 he was arrested together with the entire group at the Smolny airport an hour before the planned operation. In December 1970 he was tried at the 1st Leningrad trial and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in a high security Gulag camp. The sentence was later reduced to 10 years. In 1975, in retaliation for his Zionist anti-Soviet activities in the camp, he was transferred from the camp to the high-security prison in Vladimir. After his release in 1979, he emigrated to Israel. Remember & Save website
