Shortly after his release from the gulag in 1986, Natan Sharansky—who had been imprisoned for requesting to leave the Soviet Union for Israel—traveled to the U.S., where he met the late Senator John McCain for the first time. Sharansky recalls that first meeting, which, he says, formed a lasting mutual affinity:
“I understand why you refused to be released on the USSR’s terms two years ago,” [McCain] told me then, referring to a deal I had rejected, to the shock and consternation of many Western supporters. Many couldn’t understand why I refused to request an early release from prison for health reasons. After all, the Soviet authorities had secretly promised their American counterparts that they would grant such a request.
McCain, who experienced the horrors of captivity and dictatorship at first hand, understood what they couldn’t. He knew how such a request would have been presented by the Soviet authorities, how they would have used it to claim that I, their critic, accepted their authority to control my fate. He knew how it would have been used to break the spirit of other dissidents.
McCain understood my reasons because he himself had made the same choice. When the North Vietnamese government offered to release him ahead of other POWs, he declined, despite the atrocious conditions in which he was held. Some values, he knew, stood above survival and comfort.
McCain’s first-hand knowledge of these realities and truths shone through his endeavors throughout his long and illustrious political career. He never stopped supporting dissidents who suffered under dictatorial regimes, and he never forgot that some things should take precedence over considerations of Realpolitik and party lines. . . .
The American people lost a man of rare integrity this week, and I lost a very dear comrade-in-arms. May his legacy live on.
Read more on Times of Israel: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/john-mccain-understood-why-i-refused-to-leave-prison/