Soviet scientists are restricted in their freedom to travel and study abroad, to attend scientific conferences and to communicate with foreign colleagues.
Soviet scientists seeking to uphold these and other basic political rights - guaranteed by Soviet law -have been intimidated, dismissed from their posts, and officially ostracised by the scientific community. Some have been detained in mental hospitals, or exiled.

The campaign of repression against advocates of human and political rights has recently been intensified. It has threatened even Andrei Sakharov, one of the Soviet Union's greatest physicists, so much so that the American National Academy of Sciences has warned that future scientific cooperation with the Soviet Union will be jeopardised unless Sakharov is left free and unmolested. In Britain concern has recently focused on the misuse of psychiatry to declare insane hundreds of Soviet dissidents.

In tonight's special programme from the Royal Institution, London, scientists and doctors will discuss the situation of their Soviet colleagues and consider what action they should take.

Among those taking part are: Prof Sir Derek Barton, Prof Sir Alexander Haddow, Prof F.A. Jenner, Dr Harold Merskey, Prof Brian Spalding, Prof Sir Harold Thompson, Prof John Ziman
Chairman Prof Sir George Porter