But the reaction of such persons indicated to me that they felt the Soviet Red Cross was not the place to go.
Mr. Coleman. Mr. Snyder, had you ever heard, while you were in the Embassy in Moscow, the secret police referred to as the Red Cross?
Mr. Snyder. No.
Mr. Coleman. You never heard the MVD, for example, referred to in that way?
Mr. Snyder. No; to my knowledge—I mean there is an organization called the Soviet Red Cross, which carries on at least in the international sphere some of the normal activities of international Red Cross organizations.
The big point of departure is that they on the one hand are not independent organizations as they are in free societies, but they are an organ of the state. And, secondly, I do not think they have the same role internally that our Red Cross organizations do.
Mr. Dulles. Have you heard of it being used in other instances for what might be called extraneous payments—that is, payments not related to Red Cross work?
Mr. Snyder. No, sir.
Representative Ford. Is there a policy that you were familiar with, as far as the Soviet Union was concerned, for permitting a person to apply for and be given Soviet citizenship?
Mr. Snyder. Oh, yes; there is a well-defined way of acquiring Soviet citizenship under Soviet law.