Reuters - 05.10.2005

Reuters' AlertNet

Jews blame arsonists for Russian synagogue fire


MOSCOW, May 10 (Reuters) - Jews accused arsonists of burning down a synagogue outside Moscow on Tuesday, at a time when Russia is under the international spotlight for rising anti-Semitic violence.

The fire destroyed the small wooden synagogue in the town of Malakhovka. Television pictures showed charred books among the remains of the building.

"The day before yesterday we had a burglary, today it was arson," Malakhovka Rabbi Moshe Tamarin told Ekho Moskvy radio.

Russia's chief rabbi, Berl Lazar, said it was the first incident of its kind for many years and made no direct link to anti-Semitism.

"There has not been such an act in Russia in recent years, so there is no talk of a pattern," he told NTV television.

Earlier this year, an Israeli government report ranked Russia third after France and Britain for instances of anti-Semitic violence.

A group of 20 Russian lawmakers enraged Jews in January by sending a letter asking the General Prosecutor to investigate Jewish organisations and ban them under a law against extremism.

They later dropped their request, but their sentiments sparked concern among Russia's one million Jews and prompted parliament to call for better efforts to tackle anti-Semitism.

In a speech on Tuesday at an EU-Russia summit in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin called for the two groups to cooperate better in fighting racism, nationalism and xenophobia.