Putin's 'Zionist' Slip - 12.23.2004

Putin Makes 'Zionist' Slip in News Conference


Coverage

JTA


Jerusalem Post

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 JTA - 12.23.2004

Putin remark rattles Jews

(JTA) - A reference to Zionism in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual Kremlin news conference alarmed some Jewish leaders. 

A Ukrainian reporter asked Putin on Thursday about the future of Russian-Ukrainian relations if opposition leader Viktor Yuschenko wins the Ukrainian election Sunday. “We will work with any leader whom Ukraine will choose,” Putin said. “We only count that in the entourage of Yuschenko there will be no people who build their position on anti-Russian, Zionist slogans. We are closely following such statements and consider that that would be impermissible.” Some Jewish leaders told JTA they were alarmed by the remark, which seemed to describe Zionism as an anti-Russian movement, though they wouldn’t go on the record. Others said they think Putin simply confused the terms “Zionism” and “anti-Semitism.” 

During this year’s Ukrainian election campaign, some people — including members of the Russian leadership — have criticized Yuschenko for ties to figures associated with Ukrainian nationalism and anti-Semitism. The Russian ambassador to the United States, Yuri Ushakov, assured Mark Levin, executive director of the Washington-based NCSJ, that Putin simply misspoke.

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 Putin's 'Zionist' Slip - 12.23.2004

Jerusalem Post 

Putin: Sorry for 'Zionist' slip

BY HILARY LEILA KRIEGER

In what might have been either a Freudian slip or an innocent mistake but was no doubt a diplomatic gaffe, Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday assailed Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko's campaign for using "anti-Russian, Zionist" slogans. 

His office later clarified via the Kremlin Web site that he had meant to say "anti-Russian, anti-Semitic" slogans when answering a question at an end-of-the-year press conference in Moscow. 

Yushchenko adversaries have accused some of his supporters of anti-Jewish sentiment. Putin has loudly supported rival candidate Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who favors strong ties with Russia. 

Minister-without-Portfolio Natan Sharansky, responsible for Diaspora Affairs, accepted as true that Putin had made a slip of the tongue rather than expressed actual anti-Israel beliefs. 

Sharansky told The Jerusalem Post he was "surprised" when he first heard the reports of Putin's comment. The Russian leader, he said, has "long been careful not to use this kind of rhetoric," condemning the dangers of anti-Semitism and allowing Jewish life free rein under his regime. 

He did note with interest, however, that when Putin sought to say something injurious about the pro-Western Yushchenko he used the word "Zionist."

"It's at the top of his unconscious that 'Zionist' is a negative word," Sharansky said.