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Arriving in London on a two-week visa, Kuznetsov made it his first task to win the confidence of his traveling companion. Since Kuznetsov speaks no English, the Moscow Writers' Union had provided a translator, Georgy Andja-pazidze, a postgraduate student in English who is a Communist youth-club officer at the University of Moscow. Kuznetsov felt certain that Andjapazidze was what Russians call a mamka (nanny), a secret-police agent who was supposed to keep an eye on him. During the first four days, Kuznetsov behaved like a model Communist. On the fifth evening, during a tourist's stroll through Soho's lurid strip joints, Kuznetsov said that he wanted to find a prostitute. Andjapazidze discreetly left his companion to his own fun.
Whislced Away. Free of mamka, Kuznetsov immediately dashed for the nearest British government office. A civil servant telephoned a Russian-speaking journalist, David Floyd, the Daily Telegraph's Soviet expert. Floyd instructed the defector to take a cab to his home. Since the evening was warm, Kuznetsov had left his coat in the hotel. He insisted that they return to his single room in the Apollo Hotel to get his film-laden coat and documents. Kuznetsov also retrieved his typewriter ("my old favorite") and some Cuban cigars ("They are so cheap in Moscow"). Then the two men rushed to a waiting car, narrowly missing Andjapazidze, who was already becoming concerned about his charge's disappearance.
Floyd telephoned Kuznetsov's plea for asylum to the Home Office. A short time later, an official auto picked up the Russian writer at Floyd's residence and whisked him to a government-owned "safe house" in the suburbs. While British intelligence agents began an interrogation, Home Secretary James Callaghan conferred with Prime Minister Harold Wilson about the case. Their decision: to grant Kuznetsov an unlimited residence visa.
Shortly after the public announcement of the British decision, Soviet Ambassador Mikhail Smirnovsky stormed into the Home Secretary's office, demanding the author's return. Calllaghan refused. Two days later, Smirnovsky called on Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart and asked that Soviet diplomats be allowed to see Kuznetsov. But Kuznetsov refused to meet with his countrymen. Instead, he wrote a declaration of his reasons for leaving and three letters: one to the Soviet government, another to the Communist Party, and a third to the Writers' Union (see box on following page). His eloquent words provided startling and intriguing insight into the condition of intellectuals in the Soviet Union.
* Only Babi Yar has appeared in English.