The information that follows pertains to the Soviet Union prior to its dissolution as a state at the end of 1991.

For information on whether ethnicity was indicated in internal passports, please consult Responses to Information Requests SUN19164.E of 13 December 1994, SUN19269.E of 13 December 1994, SUN13238.E of 1 March 1993, SUN6649 of 14 August 1990, as well as the attachment. For information on whether ethnicity was indicated in birth certificates, please consult Responses to Information Requests SUN19164.E of 13 December 1994 and SUN20208.E of 27 March 1995. For information on whether ethnicity was indicated in military books and labour books, please consult the attachment.

In a telephone interview of 19 July 1995, the Chicago-based International Director of the Human Rights Bureaus in the Former Soviet Union, of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, provided the following information. Ethnicity was not indicated in the external (international) passports in the former Soviet Union.

For information on circumstances under which people were required to show their birth certificates, which may be of interest, please consult Response to Information Request SUN19163.E of 13 December 1994. For a circumstance under which people were required to show their internal passport, which may be of interest, please consult Response to Information Request SUN8688 of 31 May 1991. For information on circumstances under which people were asked their parents' ethnicities, which may be of interest, please consult Response to Information Request SUN19270.E of 19 January 1995.

In a telephone interview on 21 July 1995, the Chicago-based International Director of the Human Rights Bureaus in the Former Soviet Union, of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, provided the following information. The situations under which ethnicity is required to be indicated, as stated in the attached letter of 6 July 1995 that was sent to the DIRB, apply to the former Soviet Union and to the post-Soviet states, including Ukraine.

For a list of circumstances under which ethnicity had to be mentioned, please consult the attachment referred to in the previous paragraph.

For related information on these questions as they pertain to Ukraine, please consult Response to Information Request UKR21142.E of 27 July 1995.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ), Chicago. 21 July 1995. Telephone interview with International Director of Human Rights Bureaus in the Former Soviet Union.

_____. 19 July 1995. Telephone interview with International Director of Human Rights Bureaus in the Former Soviet Union.

Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ), Chicago. 6 July 1995. Facsimile sent to the DIRB.