January 22, 1980
I was detained on the way to work Andrey SakharovA physicist, Nobel laureate, and human rights activist. He was exiled to Gorky without trial. Two weeks earlier, he had been stripped of all state awards and titles, with the exception of the title of "academician."
There's a story that the decision to strip him of his title had already been made at the very top. The approval of his fellow academics was needed. A meeting was convened, but they were in no hurry to approve. They said there was no precedent.
“There is a precedent! — he suddenly exclaimed Pyotr Kapitsa. - In Germany, after the Nazis came to power in 1933, Einstein was expelled from the Prussian Academy of Sciences.
The exile to a city closed to foreigners occurred against the backdrop of Sakharov's public statements against the introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan - they appeared on the front pages of Western newspapers.
This is expansion, a struggle to expand the sphere of influence - sometimes due to a mistaken understanding of ensuring security... but most importantly - due to a false and dangerous messianism
At the time of his exile, 58-year-old Sakharov had been a leader of the human rights movement in the USSR for over a decade. He had also been advocating for an end to nuclear testing for over 20 years. The creator of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb—the "Sakharov layer cake"—knew what he was talking about.
...It is essential that everyone understand the absolute inadmissibility of nuclear war—the collective suicide of humanity. A nuclear war cannot be won. ...scientists <> must be able to take a universal, global position – above the egoistic interests of “their” state
In exile, Sakharov went on three hunger strikes. During the last, 178-day one, he was hospitalized and subjected to forced feeding. A worldwide campaign unfolded in his defense. For example, the square in front of the Soviet embassy in Washington was renamed Sakharov Square.
He returned from exile at the beginning of perestroika, in 1986, with personal permission. Gorbachev.
In 1989, he became a People's Deputy of the USSR. That same year, while working on the draft of a new constitution, he died unexpectedly of sudden cardiac arrest.
All people have the right to life, liberty and happiness (from the draft constitution of A. Sakharov)
