Press Release - 06.06.2002

 

PRESS RELEASE

NCSJ Rejects Police Explanation  

[Read Russian Jewish Congress Statement]

June 6, 2002 – NCSJ has rejected comments by a high-ranking Russian police official, who claimed, “from a formal point of view, the slogan 'Death to Kikes' is not an attempt to ignite ethnic strife.” 

The official, Col. Nikolai Vagin of the Bureau of Internal Affairs, was quoted in Izvestiya on May 30 concerning the May 27 explosion of a booby-trapped anti-Semitic roadside poster that seriously injured the woman trying to remove it.  NCSJ has condemned that attack and delivered a letter to the woman, Tatyana Sapunova, in Israel, where she is receiving treatment for burns and eye damage.

“We need to work more closely with Russian authorities and community organizations to ensure that such statements by those in positions of responsibility are relegated to the past,” NCSJ Chairman Harold Paul Luks said.  “After the assurances and public statements by President Putin, this is the next step in effectively combating anti-Semitism and all forms of xenophobia.”

NCSJ President Robert Meth reported, “NCSJ has been in contact with the U.S. and Russian governments to express our concern about this and other remarks by Russian officials in this case.”  According to Izvestiya, the Department of Road Safety spokesman claimed to be unaware of the tragic incident involving Ms. Sapunova.

According to a joint statement by the Moscow Jewish Community, Russian Jewish Congress and Russian Chief Rabbi Avrom Shayevich, Col. Vagin’s reaction “is no less scandalous than the actions of those who perpetrated the atrocity. For fascist organizations, such statements amount to covert encouragements, letting them know that their actions will remain unpunished in the future.” 

The joint statement, which is included below in its entirety, also called upon Russian leadership to “condemn the actions of these officials in the strictest fashion, taking into consideration the question of their professional inadequacy, and that persons who are sympathetic to Nazis will be removed from the investigation.”

NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia – a voluntary, not-for-profit agency created in 1971, is the mandated central coordinating agency of the organized American Jewish community for policy and activities on behalf of the estimated 1.5 million Jews in the former Soviet Union. NCSJ comprises nearly 50 national organizations and over 300 local federations, community councils and committees across the United States. Through this extensive network, NCSJ mobilizes the resources, energies and talents of millions of U.S. citizens, and also represents the American Jewish community in dealings with similar national groups abroad, and at international fora.

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RUSSIAN JEWISH CONGRESS STATEMENT (May 30, 2002)

Today's issue of the newspaper Izvestiya contains a statement by Col. N. Vagin, head of the Bureau of Internal Affairs of the Lenin District, where a terrorist crime was perpetrated on May 27. The victim of the well-publicized atrocity was Tatiana Sapunova.

We quote:

"The head of the Bureau of Internal Affairs Col. Nikolai Vagin does not consider his subordinates guilty of negligence. 'We did not receive a single report that such a poster had been displayed,' Nikolai Vagin told Izvestiya. 'We did not know of its existence until the moment of the explosion. So I had no reason to instruct our agents to search for the poster. In addition, it is debatable whether the display of such a poster constitutes a crime. In my opinion, from a formal point of view, the slogan 'Death to Kikes' is not an attempt to ignite ethnic strife. In Russia, 'Kikes' can refer to anyone."

The same article reports that Anatoly Denisov, Vice Director of the Press Corps of the Department of Road Safety (UGIBDD), while being interviewed by Izvestiya's correspondents "for some reason pretended that he did not even know about the explosion."

With high regard for the civic and moral stance of Izvestiya's correspondents, who condemn the views expressed by Col. Vagin and Mr. A. Denisov, we send you the declaration of the RJC and the Jewish Community of Moscow concerning this matter.

Once again a part of the organs of public safety is trying to justify or at least to minimize the danger of the activities of Neo-Nazi anti-Semitic organizations. The statement made by a high-ranking police official that the content of the aforementioned slogan does not represent an attempt to ignite ethnic strife is no less scandalous than the actions of those who perpetrated the atrocity. For fascist organizations, such statements amount to covert encouragements, letting them know that their actions will remain unpunished in the future.

The views expressed by the public safety officials quoted above are offensive not only to Jews, not only to Tatiana Sapunova, but to the entire Russian community, which unanimously expressed its indignation at the terrorist incident that took place on the Kiev Highway. These views go against the position of General Public Prosecutor Ustinov, who according to reports has taken the investigation of the incident under his personal supervision. It poses a threat to the growing constructive collaboration between Jewish organizations and public safety agencies in counteracting Neo-Nazis.

We should point out that a day after the explosion outside Naro-Fominsk, a Jewish teenager was beaten by skinheads in Moscow. Yesterday all of the major media outlets in Russia commented on the obvious connection between these two crimes. What we are witnessing is a growing tendency to anti-Semitic terrorism. In our view, in such a situation the statements of Col. Vagin and Mr. A. Denisov are tantamount to provocations, regardless of whether they were motivated by a misguided concern for the "honor of the uniform" or by an ideological sympathy with Neo-Nazis. We hope that the leadership of the organs of public safety will condemn the actions of these officials in the strictest fashion, taking into consideration the question of their professional inadequacy, and that persons who are sympathetic to Nazis will be removed from the investigation.

Gennady Khazanov
President of the Jewish Community of Moscow

Rabbi Avrom Shayevich
Chief Rabbi of Russia

Yevgeny Satanovsky
President of the Russian Jewish Congress

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