Ha'aretz - 03.04.2003

Ha'aretz

Synagogue in Siberia Vandalized

MOSCOW - (AP) The synagogue in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk was defaced overnight by vandals who painted swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti on an outside wall along with the initials of an ultranationalist group, officials and Jewish leaders said Monday. 

State-run Rossiya television showed footage of the synagogue with swastikas painted on both sides of a gate and words including "death" scrawled on the wall. The initials of the ultranationalist group Russian Nationality Unity also appeared. 

Vandalism at Jewish sites in the city 3,400 kilometers east of Moscow is fairly common, but it was the first such acts have been associated with a particular organization, Rossiya reported. It said Russian National Unity, which is banned in some Russian regions, is not registered in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, and nobody claimed responsibility for the vandalism. 

Yuri Lifshits, chairman of the Council of the Krasnoyarsk Jewish Religious Union, expressed concern about extremist groups. "These are neo-nazis and fascists who inciting interracial hate. Today they defaced a synagogue, tomorrow they'll deface a church and the day after tomorrow they'll grab axes and knifes, and there will be pogroms," he said on Rossiya. 

Krasnoyarsk Rabbi Benyamin Vagner said the vandals should be caught and tried. According to Rossiya, police said that if suspects are found, they could be charged only with vandalism because the graffiti did not include threats specific enough to warrant more serious charges. 

In January, a prominent human rights group questioned the Russian government's pledges to crack down on extremist violence and ethnic and religious discrimination, saying recent anti-extremism legislation is flawed and undermined by selective enforcement. 

The Moscow Helsinki Group said the number of racist attacks against foreigners and minorities continued its upward trend in 2002, but that police have refused to acknowledge the problem. 

The Kremlin-sponsored law defines extremism as any activity aimed at overthrowing the government, instigating social, national or religious hatred, or distributing fascist literature.