Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair

Even though the attempt was unsuccessful, it was a notable event in the course of the Cold War because it drew international attention to human rights violations in the Soviet Union and resulted in the temporary loosening of emigration restrictions.

The process of applying for an exit visa often cost applicants their jobs, which in turn made them vulnerable to charges of social parasitism, a criminal offense.

[2] In 1970, a group of sixteen Refuseniks (14 of them Jewish) [clarification needed] were organized by dissident Edward Kuznetsov, who had previously served a seven-year term in prison for publishing Phoenix-61, a samizdat poetry collection.

[3] The group plotted to buy all the seats on a small 12-seater Antonov An-2 (colloquially known as "кукурузник," kukuruznik) making a local flight from Leningrad to Priozersk, under the guise of a trip to a wedding.

In August 1974, Sylva Zalmanson was released as part of an Israeli secret Soviet prisoner exchange with the spy Yuri Linov[11] that took place in Berlin, after which she immigrated to Israel, arriving in September.

"The Committee to Free the Leningrad Three," headed by Colorado State Senator Tilman Bishop, was instrumental in organizing grassroots and diplomatic campaigns to release the remaining prisoners.

He urged continuance of the campaign to free two members of the group, Fedorov and Murzhenko: "The fact that both are non-Jewish is the worst example of Soviet discrimination and must not pass without protest."