HELP US ! " SLAM OUT OF THE SWIRLING SNOW OF A 
MOSCOW WINTER MORNING LAST WEEK, 32 SHABBY PEASANTS SUDDENLY APPEARED AT 
THE IRON GATES OF THE U.S . EMBASSY AT 19-21 TCHAIKOVSKY 
STREET, BRUSHED PAST THE RUSSIAN GUARDS ON THE SIDEWALK, AND STRODE 
INSIDE . TO FLABBERGASTED AMERICAN DIPLOMATS THEY PUT A STARTLING REQUEST 
: HELP US GET OUT OF RUSSIA . THE SIX MEN, 
TWELVE WOMEN AND 14 CHILDREN CLAD IN TATTERED SHEEPSKIN COATS AND 
BABUSHKAS WERE A FORLORN LOT WITH A FORLORN TALE . THEY 
CAME FROM A SECT OF PROTESTANT PENTACOSTAL EVANGELISTS IN THE SIBERIAN 
TOWN OF CHERNOGORSK, NEAR THE MONGOLIAN BORDER 2,100 MILES TO THE 
EAST . OF LATE, LOCAL AUTHORITIES THERE HAD TAKEN AWAY SEVERAL 
CHILDREN OF THE SECT, AND THREATENED TO IMPRISON THE ADULT FAITHFUL 
. WITH THE VAGUE NOTION THAT A FOREIGN EMBASSY MIGHT HELP 
THEM, THE SIBERIANS WENT BY TRAIN TO MOSCOW . NOW THEY 
WANTED TO TRAVEL TO " ISRAEL " PROBABLY MEANING THE ISRAEL 
OF THE OLD TESTAMENT . THE AMERICANS LISTENED SYMPATHETICALLY, BUT AMBASSADOR 
FOY KOHLER HAD TO STICK TO REGULATIONS. OUT WENT A CALL 
TO THE SOVIET FOREIGN MINISTRY, EXPLAINING THE SITUATION AND ASKING THAT 
THE PEASANTS BE REMOVED . MEANWHILE, THE SIBERIANS WERE INVITED INTO 
THE EMBASSY LUNCHROOM TO HAVE COFFEE AND CAKE . EMBARRASSED BY 
THE WHOLE THING, THE U.S . OFFICIALS PREVENTED FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS FROM 
PHOTOGRAPHING OR SPEAKING WITH THE VISITORS . AT LAST, A DILAPIDATED 
BUS DROVE INTO THE EMBASSY COMPOUND AND BACKED UP TO THE 
LUNCHROOM DOOR . WITH IT CAME SOVIET FOREIGN MINISTRY AGENTS, WHO 
URGED THE PEASANTS TO COME ALONG QUIETLY . " COME NOW, 
LET'S NOT HAVE A DEMONSTRATION, " SAID ONE . " WHERE 
WILL YOU TAKE US ? " A SIBERIAN INQUIRED . " 
TO A HOTEL, " REPLIED THE OFFICIAL . " THEN WE 
WILL ARRANGE FOR YOU TO GO BACK HOME . / BY 
THEN, THE WOMEN WERE WAILING . ONE PEASANT YELLED, " BUT 
I DO NOT WANT TO GO BACK ! THEY WILL ARREST 
ME AND SHOOT ME ! " TO A CLUSTER OF NEWSMEN 
STANDING NEAR BY, HE CRIED, " WE ASK ALL BROTHERS AND 
SISTERS WHO BELIEVE IN GOD : HELP US ! HELP US 
! " THEN THE BUS DROVE AWAY INTO THE SNOW . 
THE STATE DEPARTMENT LATER EXPLAINED THAT IT IS U.S . POLICY, 
AS A RULE, TO DENY ASYLUM TO FOREIGNERS IN EMBASSIES ABROAD 
UNLESS THE PERSON IS IN " IMMINENT DANGER FROM MOB VIOLENCE 
. " JOSEF CARDINAL MINDSZENTY, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIMATE OF HUNGARY, WAS 
CONSIDERED TO QUALIFY " UNDER EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES " WHEN HE WON 
SANCTUARY IN THE U.S . LEGATION DURING THE 1956 UPRISING IN 
BUDAPEST, WHERE HE STILL LIVES . 