Russia Update- 01.12.2001

 

Jews Facing Old and New Challenges

 

Russia’s response throughout the year 2000 to the phenomenon of anti-Semitism has been ambiguous. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made very public gestures of support toward the Russian Jewish community and aspires to maintain good relations with the West and Israel.  Yet the Kremlin has done little to counteract anti-Semitic events in Russia during the past few months. The staying power of Russia’s fledgling civil society can be measured against the Russian government’s respect for, and protection of, the Jewish community.

Popular anti-Semitism and the policies of the Putin government, assume special significance against a backdrop of centuries of tsarist and communist persecution. The official response to anti-Semitic incidents and anti-Semitic messages has been inconsistent, and some community leaders have expressed concern at the appearance of increased governmental interference in Jewish communal affairs.

Since President Putin gained popular support with the aid of his nationalist position on Chechnya, his efforts to counter xenophobia among the Russian public carry particular importance. The expiration of the December 31, 2000, deadline for registration of religious organizations and congregations under the problematic Law on Religion – despite a sizable backlog of applications – has only compounded the vulnerability of minority groups within the Russian Federation. The Putin government has continued to implement strong centralizing measures by limiting the authority of regional governors, curbing media opposition, and challenging the independence of religious and human rights groups.

Russian Jewish leaders point out that there is no official anti-Semitism in Russia today. Yet the Kremlin has done little to address blatant manifestations of popular anti-Semitism in Ryazan and Kursk, and has not responded to clear evidence that some of its own officials and regional governors espouse anti-Semitic views. In early December 2000, the State Duma decided not to hold debate on recent acts of anti-Semitism. Federal and local authorities have responded inconsistently to developments, with calls for a special investigation into the Kursk affair but no effective response to incidents in Ryazan or the Interior Ministry’s illegal search of the Moscow Choral Synagogue, and with rare repudiation of politicians’ anti-Semitic rhetoric.

 

Official Outreach

President Putin attended the dedication of the new Jewish Community Center in Moscow in September 2000, and spoke very favorably of the Jewish community. According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, he affirmed that “the revival of the Jewish Russian community is an organic part of the national revival of Russia.” Later the same week, he held a well-publicized lunch meeting with Natan Sharansky, the prominent Israeli politician and former Soviet refusenik.

On December 22, 2000, President Putin made a high-profile visit to Moscow’s Maryna Roscha Synagogue in celebration of Chanukah, also meeting with former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. President Putin accepted a menorah and likened the Chanukah theme to that of his vision for Russia, calling the holiday “not a military but a spiritual victory… without [which] it is impossible to build a strong society and a strong state.”

 

Ryazan   

On September 17, a group of thugs broke into a Jewish Sunday school in Ryazan, smashing windows and furniture, and shouting fascist slogans and death threats at the 25 children and teachers. They later intimidated the school’s principal into revoking the Jewish community’s right to a classroom. Local authorities promised immediate action to identify the perpetrators of the attack, though one official dismissed the incidents as acts of ‘hooliganism’ and therefore not worthy of further investigation.

On September 25, Ryazan police identified 4 of the 15 people allegedly involved in the attack, but made no arrests, deeming the youths only a minor threat to society. The U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation, James Collins, sponsored a roundtable discussion of the events in Ryazan in October, however the Russian government made no moves of its own to address the Ryazan incidents. In December, reports on the gubernatorial race in Ryazan cited the wide use of anti-Semitic slogans by some local candidates. Former Ryazan Mayor Valerii Ryumin is allegedly running the anti-Semitic campaign and has refused to classify the Sunday school attack as a criminal act.

 

 Kursk

 On October 21, the Kursk regional government barred incumbent Governor Aleksandr Rutskoi from running for re-election, charging him with election campaign law violations and abuse of his office as governor. The ruling came one day before gubernatorial elections and was based upon complaints filed by two other candidates in the race. Incoming Governor Alexandr Mikhailov stated on November 9 that his victory was a sign that he, with the support of President Putin, should now begin the work of eliminating the Jewish ‘filth’ that has accumulated in Russia since independence (Rutskoi’s mother is Jewish). The presidential representative to the Central Federal District met with Mikhailov, and shortly afterwards (November 16) Mikhailov apologized to Rutskoi. President Putin himself has not responded to Mikhailov’s claims. 

A few days later, the head of the Kursk Jewish community reported that a group of people banged on the windows and blockaded the door of the Jewish community center, shouting “We are Mikhailov’s supporters!”  On November 21, former Deputy Governor Sergei Maksachev (who had served under Rutskoi) was attacked and severely beaten by a man claiming to be Mikhailov’s deputy governor and uttering many anti-Semitic remarks (Maksachev’s father is Jewish).

To his credit, President Putin’s reaction to the last incident was immediate: He asked federal Prosecutor-General Vladimir Ustinov to lead the investigation into the incident. Authorities arrested Maksachev’s alleged attacher, Vasily Oleinikov, on November 21. On November 28, the Duma drafted a request to President Putin for a deeper investigation into the Kursk incidents and suspension of Governor Mikhailov pending the probe.

Some Jewish groups have since accused the Kremlin of inaction on the Kursk case and on other recent cases of anti-Semitism. However, the Duma has voted against debating the latest wave of incidents, including frequent anti-Semitic comments by regional officials such as former Krasnodar Governor Nikolai Kondratenko. The U.S. State Department issued a statement on October 3 noting “apparent Kremlin support for the re-election of Krasnodar Governor Nikolai Kondratenko, who has repeatedly made anti-Semitic statements.” The statement also expressed deep concern at “recent anti-Semitic remarks published in the Russian press in recent weeks by the general director of the Analytical Information Agency of the Presidential Administration Aleksandr Ignatov.”

 

Goussinsky

 

The recent detention and current house arrest of Vladimir Goussinsky in Spain also alarmed Jewish and human rights groups both in Russia and abroad. The government’s campaign against Goussinsky is notable for anti-Semitic attacks in government-controlled media, an illegal search of the Moscow Choral Synagogue, and the Kremlin’s widely perceived use of inter-organizational rivalries to undermine Goussinsky’s leadership of the Russian Jewish Congress.

The Russian Prosecutor-General is charging Goussinsky with fraud in deals made with energy giant Gazprom. Goussinsky, owner of the Media-MOST empire and founder of the independent NTV television network, argues that the arrest is an attempt by President Putin to silence media opposition. The Kremlin is pressing for Goussinsky’s extradition and for the confiscation of Goussinsky’s domestic and international assets. Gazprom has dropped its own lawsuit against Media-MOST and a Moscow court dismissed the fraud case on December 27, though Russian prosecutors successfully appealed that decision in a higher court.

In June 2000, Goussinsky was arrested in Moscow and held for three days, amid attacks in government-owned media against his Jewish community involvement. On October 20, Interior Ministry officials raided Moscow’s Choral Synagogue, searching for information on the synagogue’s financial connections to Media-MOST. The raid occurred during the Jewish holiday week of Sukkot, when many of the community’s leaders were away from Moscow. Police also confiscated the weapons of the synagogue’s guards, for unspecified reasons.

Conclusion

 

While anti-Semitism is not a new development in Russia, recent events such as those in Kursk indicate that the Russian government can do more to counteract such attacks. President Putin has not demonstrated a clear link between his own overtures to the Russian Jewish community and efforts to investigate and punish acts of anti-Semitism. The extent to which Putin and his government are willing to protect the rights of Jews is therefore ambiguous.

The history of Jews in Russia is such that treatment of this ancient minority should serve to test the prospects for pluralistic democracy at large. President Putin’s public overtures to the Jewish community should be evaluated relative to other priorities: official willingness to address anti-Semitism and the extent to which authorities are willing to intimidate or interfere with the Russian Jewish community. Ex-Klansman David Duke appears to have made just such an evaluation in choosing Russia as an export market for his brand of racist publications and politicking.

The progress of the 1990s has not banished the legacy of xenophobia and anti-Semitism. The new decade presents a vital opportunity to turn gestures into permanent priorities.  The future of Russian Jewry – and of Russian civil society – will depend largely upon the result of those efforts.