Soviet Sailor Who Fled on Raft Gets Asylum
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Associated Press
TOKYO — A Soviet sailor who rowed into Japanese waters last month in a rubber raft has been granted asylum in the United States, the U.S. Embassy said today.
Valery V. Polyanin, who fled from a Soviet fishing trawler on Feb. 14, “is expected to depart shortly for the United States,” an embassy statement said. Kyodo News Service reported he wanted to study painting in the United States.
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