Hearts of Stone

If anyone still doubts that the Soviet government is a cruel and repressive one just read the news item on Page 17 of The Times (Aug. 17). Denying a sister an emergency exit visa, pending since March, for the purpose of donating bone marrow on the slim chance of saving a dying brother’s life in Israel, is proof positive of the barbaric nature of the Russian autocracy. With only a 25% chance of saving him even that small comfort is being denied.

I lost my beloved husband to leukemia and I would have gone to the ends of the earth to save him if I could, even on the smallest chance. What kind of callous, inhumane, unfeeling flesh and bone and mind do Soviet officials consist of? They must have hearts of stone. Were the czars they deposed any worse?

SHIRLEY WOLF

Santa Monica