refusenik

thumb|January 10, 1973. Soviet Jewish refusenik demonstration in front of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the right to emigrate to Israel, before being broken up by Soviet authorities. thumb|A rare type 2 USSR exit visa. This type of visa was issued to those who received permission to leave the USSR permanently and lost their Soviet citizenship. Many people who wanted to emigrate were unable to receive this kind of exit visa. thumb|Letter from the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs|MVD to a 76-year-old man from Sverdlovsk refusing him permission to move to Israel due to "knowledge of state secrets", May 1991. Refusenik (, ; alternatively spelled refusnik) was an unofficial term for individuals—typically, but not exclusively, Soviet Jews—who were denied permission to emigrate, primarily to Israel, by the authorities of the Soviet Union and other countries of the Soviet Bloc. The term refusenik is derived from the "refusal" handed down to a prospective emigrant from the Soviet authorities.

Under Joseph Stalin's regime, the Soviet Union adopted an isolationist policy that, in part, blocked emigration to non-Communist or non-allied countries for nearly all citizens.