TheSiberian Seven refers to seven out of twenty‑nine members of two families of persecutedPentecostals in theSoviet Union who took up residency at theU.S. Embassy in Moscow on June 27, 1978.[1][2] These seven members represented the Vashchenko and Chmykhalov families, both originally fromChernogorsk,Siberia.[3] The seven stayed at the embassy for five years, until being granted exit visas and permission to emigrate on June 26, 1983, before all 29 members were allowed to leave to Israel on atourist visa.[4] Sixteen members of the families eventually settled in the United States.[5]