Russian Elections - 12.19.2003

Russian Election Outcome Concerns Jewish Leaders


Baltimore Jewish Times


New York Jewish Week

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Baltimore Jewish Times 

Russian Warnings  

By James D. Besser, Washington Correspondent  

Jewish leaders are watching warily as Russia's experiment shows signs of unraveling.

So is the Bush administration, which is speaking more forcefully about the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which recently won a big victory in parliamentary elections that independent monitors said were rigged.

Officials here are also worried about Mr. Putin's recent actions against independent news media and business leaders.  That anti-democratic surge is also worrying Jewish leaders who focus on Jews in the former Soviet Union.

"We're very concerned that the two most prominent pro-democratic parties may hot have a place at the political table anymore," said Mark Levin, executive director of NCSJ, a major Soviet Jewry group.

Mr. Putin himself, he said, "has been very vocal in his support for certain Jewish activities in Russia.  At the same time, people around him have not been above using the Jewish identity of some of the most prominent business people to cut them down to size."

Even more ominous, he said, is the "possible development of a system that doesn't allow for checks and balances.  You have the predominant party more firmly in control after theses new elections than ever before."

Mr. Levin said Jews in Russia -- current estimates place the number at about a half-million -- are not in any immediate danger.

"But the more open and democratic a country is, the more secure its Jewish population," he said.  "And we're seeing a situation today in which Russia may be moving in the other direction."

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New York Jewish Week

Putin Worries

By James D. Besser, Washington Correspondent  

Jewish leaders are watching warily as Russia's demcratic experiment shows signs of unraveling.

So is the Bush administration, which is speaking more forcefully about the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which recently won a big victory in parliamentary elections that independent monitors said were rigged.

Officials here are also worried about Putin's recent actions against independent news media and business leaders.

"We're very concerned that the two most prominent pro-democratic parties may hot have a place at the political table anymore," said Mark Levin, executive director of NCSJ, a major Soviet Jewry group.

Putin himself, he said, "has been very vocal in his support for certain Jewish activities in Russia.  At the same time, people around him have not been above using the Jewish identity of some of the most prominent business people to cut them down to size."

Even more ominous, he said, is the "possible development of a system that doesn't allow for checks and balances.  You have the predominant party more firmly in control after theses new elections than ever before."