RUSSIA IT STARTED WITH STAMPS BERLIN'S UGLY WALL IS NOT THE ONLY 
BARRIER THAT COMMUNISM'S INMATES TRY TO BREACH . SOVIET AUTHORITIES ARE 
CONCERNED AT THE INCREASING NUMBER OF SOVIET YOUTHS TRYING TO SNEAK 
ILLEGALLY OUT OF RUSSIA ITSELF . RECENTLY TWO YOUNG RUSSIANS TRIED 
TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY BY SWIMMING OUT TO A FOREIGN TANKER 
IN THE BLACK SEA PORT OF BATUM ; THEY WERE PICKED 
UP BY A SOVIET HARBOR PATROL BOAT . ONE WAS SENTENCED 
TO SIX YEARS IN PRISON, THE OTHER TO TEN . ONE 
OF THE MEN, SAID SOVIET OFFICIALS, HAD BEEN INFLUENCED BY MODERN, 
WESTERN-STYLE POETRY " BAD VERSE THAT HAD BEEN REJECTED BY ALL 
EDITORIAL OFFICES . " IZVESTIA, WHICH OCCASIONALLY PRINTS REVEALING NEWS FOR 
ITS CAUTIONARY EFFECT, LAST WEEK TOLD THE STORY OF A DEFECTOR 
NAMED ALEKSANDR ( " SASHA " ) MIRILENKO . SASHA WAS 
THE 18-YEAR-OLD SON OF A UKRAINIAN CULTURAL WORKER AND HIS TEACHER 
WIFE, BOTH COMMUNISTS . ALWAYS DAYDREAMING ABOUT LIFE OUTSIDE RUSSIA, SASHA 
STARTED COLLECTING FOREIGN STAMPS AND WRITING TO COLLECTORS IN OTHER COUNTRIES 
. AS HIS PEN PALS BEGAN TELLING HIM ABOUT THE GOOD 
THINGS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE IRON CURTAIN, SASHA'S ALLEGIANCE 
TO THE YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE BEGAN TO FALTER . HE WENT 
TO THE BLACK SEA RESORT OF YALTA, WHERE HE BUTTONHOLED FOREIGN 
TOURISTS FOR MORE INFORMATION AND BEGGED FOR FOUNTAIN PENS AND CIGARETTE 
LIGHTERS . SOON SASHA WAS FED UP WITH HIS HOMELAND . 
FROM HIS TECHNICAL SCHOOL HE STOLE 35 RUBLES, SOME STAMPS, AND 
A PAIR OF WIRE-CUTTERS, HEADED FOR THE FRONTIER BETWEEN RUSSIA AND 
TURKEY . HE GOT WITHIN A FEW YARDS OF HIS GOAL 
. ONE NIGHT LAST NOVEMBER, AS SASHA TRIED TO CLIP HIS 
WAY THROUGH THE BARBED-WIRE FRONTIER FENCE, A FLARE SHOT INTO THE 
SKY, ALARM BELLS BEGAN TO JANGLE, AND BORDER GUARDS GRABBED SASHA 
. MORALIZED IZVESTIA : " THIS CHARACTER, A QUITE EXCEPTIONAL PHENOMENON 
IN OUR COUNTRY, HAS BECOME A RENEGADE, BETRAYED HIS FRIENDS, PARENTS 
AND COUNTRY . LET HIM ANSWER BEFORE SOVIET JUSTICE . / 
