WASHINGTON -- Two conservative members of Congress, a group of Young Republicans, a Reform rabbi and six television cameras witnessed the Cold War remarriage by proxy Monday of a Soviet emigre and his wife, who began a hunger strike in Moscow.
The ceremony -- complete with the groom sipping from a ceremonial goblet of wine and stomping on a glass -- was a political statement in conjunction with a hunger strike by six Soviets -- including the bride - demanding the right to emigrate to join spouses or fiances abroad.
In the five-minute ceremony, Rabbi Joshua Haberman of the Washington Hebrew Congregation married Edward Lozansky, 28, a physics professor at American University, and Tatyana Lozanksy, 29, who is under house arrest in Moscow.
The couple was divorced as a condition of allowing Mrs. Lozanksy - the daughter of a high-ranking Soviet general -- to emigrate with her husband, but permission was revoked after he left Russia in 1976. Lozansky has not seen his 10-year-old daughter since.
Elena Balovlenkov, the Baltimore-born wife of Moscow hunger striker Yuri Balovlenkov, stood in for Mrs. Lozansky at the marriage in the U.S. Capitol as Sen. Robert Dole, R-Kan., acted as a witness and Rep. Jack Kemp, R-N.Y., as ring bearer. Mrs. Balovlenka held her 22-month-old daughter, Katrina, who her father has never seen, during the ceremony.
The wedding and news conference was sponsored by the Young Republican National Federation, which made Mrs. Lozanksy an honorary member. To stress the bipartisan nature of their cause, Young Republican Chairman David Barron announced that the College Democrats have made Balovlenkov an honorary member.
Haberman, dressed in a white rabbinical robes, conducted the ceremony in Hebrew and English, quoting from the Book of Ruth: 'Wither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.'
After the ceremony, Lozansky had a message for his wife: 'I love you, and the main goal of my life remains to embrace you and our child in my country, the United States of America.'
