WASHINGTON -- Negotiations with the Soviet Union on a new scientific exchange agreement have been postponed until Soviet researchers intercede for dissident Andrei Sakharov, the National Academy of Sciences said Friday.
Academy President Frank Press said he told the Soviet Academy of Sciences on May 8 it would be impossible to discuss a new agreement 'given the deep concern the members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences have about the circumstances' of Sakharov.
Sakharov, a physicist and dissident, has been in internal exile since 1980 an his health is uncertain. He went on a hunger strike in early May to protest Soviet authorities' refusal to permit his wife, Yelena Bonner, to leave the country for medical treatment.
U.S. scientists asked their Soviet counterparts on May 24 to intercede on behalf of the Sakharovs, a National Academy spokeswoman said.
'Specifically, what they're looking for is some sign the (Soviet) academy has interceded on behalf of the Sakharovs,' she said. 'I don't think anyone expects the academy to turn around the whole Soviet government.'
The U.S. academy in 1980 suspended an agreement with the Soviet academy on joint symposiums because of Sakharov's banishment. The agreement itself, one of a series begun in 1959, later expired.
Although no joint academy meetings have been held since 1980, an informal, individual exchange of scientists has continued, a spokeswoman said.
An American delegation was to visit the Soviet Union this summer to discuss a formal renewal but said it could not now because of the Sakharov matter.
'I have delayed until the last moment a final decision in the hope that the situation would be positively resolved in a manner that all of us would recognize,' Press said in a cable Thursday to A.P. Aleksandrov, president of the Soviet academy.
'Since this hoped for development has not occurred, I believe it is to our mutual advantage to postpone the visit of our delegation until a climate more favorable for positive discussions exists.'
The academy spokeswoman said Soviet academy President A.P. Aleksandrov cabled back Friday, saying only, 'Received your telex, regret,' she said. ---
U.S. officials said Friday the Soviets have given assurances the Sakharovs are well. But the officials said they would like proof.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private organization of scientists and engineers. It is authorized to advise the government on science and technology.
