In 1996, a number of antisemitic incidents were reported. Given Russia's vast, ever-changing and contradictory character, the situation for Jews in Russia is complex. While Jewish communal life has experienced an important expansion, extremist groups are on the rise. While Jews have risen to prominent positions in the government and in banking, business, and the arts, the registration of the Jewish Agency for Israel was rejected prior to the July 1996 Presidential election, forced to close and then subsequently forced to reorganize as an indigenous organization. And while Russia has attempted to import Western ideas about civil society and the economy, the government has also engaged in a vicious war in Chechnya and has provoked ethnic hatred of Chechens and other groups from the Caucasus.
The reelection of Boris Yeltsin signifies a momentary understanding that, for the foreseeable future, Russia will continue to "muddle through." The situation for Jews will remain status quo - a significant level of antisemitism existing alongside relative religious freedom and social mobility.
Nevertheless, the extreme instability of the Russian regime, given Yeltsin's poor health and the high level of discontent among the population, suggests a strong potential for danger in the near future.
The high visibility of a handful of leaders who are, to some degree, Jewish needs to be noted. While this signals the relative opportunities for social mobility for Jews, there also exists a potential for scapegoating "Jewish bankers" and other Jews in prominent positions. Further, while many of these so-called Jewish leaders have some relation to Jewishness, very few are practicing Jews or have shown self-identification as Jews (i.e. First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov's mother was Jewish, but Nemtsov himself was baptized).
The significance of extremist groups in Russia, their effect on the culture, and their threat to Jews and other minorities living in Russia is meaningfully summarized in the words of the following observers of the topic:
Walter Laqueur in his 1993 book, The Rise of the Extreme Right in Russia, writes, "One of the few certainties at this time is the reappearance of a nationalist movement firmly believing that Russia can only be saved by a strong authoritarian government that restores law and order and pursues a conservative policy… Let us summarize the case of the Russian nationalists. The right argues that a gradual, slower transformation of the Soviet Union would have been greatly preferable. The price to be paid for dismantling the old system - the loss of all the non-Russian republics, including Ukraine-was too high. Three centuries of Russian history were undone in a few days in August 1991 as a result of weakness at the center.
"To save the remnant, a spiritual as well as political renaissance is needed, a return to the national and religious values of the Russian people. It is pointless to embrace Western values and to copy Western institutions. Russia had always followed a road of its own; political systems that functioned elsewhere were unsuitable for Russia. So was parliamentary democracy - for as Solzhenitsyn has written, party rivalry distorted the national will.
"In this time of troubles the country needed not only a strong leadership but a set of national and religious beliefs that would sustain it through the hard years (or decades) ahead. These beliefs existed; they had only to be disinterred from underneath the rubble and brought again to the consciousness of the people. The only alternative is nihilism, further decline, the descent to anarchy, and perhaps the eventual disappearance of the Russian people…. This, in briefest outline, is the case of the 'Russian party' against the 'Westerns.'"
Yevgeny Proshechkin, the chairman of Moscow's Anti-Fascist Center writes that "The process of infiltrating fascism into the public conscience and the public itself is now under way in Russia. This process is proceeding in geometrical progression. A few years ago, a person would have felt very uncomfortable if somebody had said to him, 'In fact, your views are close to fascism, this is fascism.' But now, millions of Russians are ready to respond, 'What is wrong with fascism? It is just respect for the national feelings.' I think a dangerous event has occurred-a sharp turn in the public conscience to the belief that fascism is something good." -Quote printed in The Nazification of Russia by Semyon Reznick, 1996
According to Sergei Sirotkin, Russian Duma member and former deputy chair of President Yeltsin's Human Rights Commission, " Discrimination, racial and ethnic prejudice, xenophobia and antisemitism have spread around the country to such an extent that they began [in 1995] to influence the country's social life...There is a real threat...that these extremist organizations and their ideas penetrate Russia's trade unions, businesses, the armed forces and law enforcement agencies and spread quickly among migrants, workers and students...This dirty wave contains a pronounced antisemitic stream. This is particularly dangerous because antisemitism is a potent weapon in the political arsenal of leaders and parties playing a serious role in today's political process."-from testimony given on February 27, 1996 before a Congressional Hearing of the House Committee on International Relations
Of the reportedly 120 nationalist organizations displaying fascist and neo-Nazi symbols, the most prominent are the Russian National Union, Russian National Council and Alexandr Barkashov's Russian National Unity. All such groups espouse xenophobic and antisemitic ideology, attributing all of Russia'sproblems to a "Jewish and Zionist conspiracy." The alleged centuries-long campaign by Jews to destabilize Russia is a popular theme in the extremist publications of these groups. Nationalist organizations are most strongly represented in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vologda, Yekaterinburg, and the north Caucasus region. -Antisemitism Worldwide 1996 by Anti-Defamation League and World Jewish Congress
"Who belongs to the nation? Only ethnic Russians who also belong to the Orthodox church. Catholics, Muslims, Protestants, and Jews can be Russian subjects; they can be tolerated and given freedom of religious practice; they can even be given certain civil rights. But since 'Holy Russia' is meaningless for them, they cannot be true Russians."-Black Hundred: The Rise of the Extreme Right in Russia by Walter Laqueur, 1993
"All 'patriotic' groups denounced Yeltsin as the head of the Jewish Masonic conspiracy. They accused him of destroying the Russian military might, the Russian people, and the Russian spirit. They also accused him of selling out Russian national interests to the West, of being a secret Jew, and of serving American imperialism."--Nazification of Russia by Semyon Reznik, 1996
In early January 1997, about 30 members of the Pamyat ultranationalist group demonstrated outside the Israeli Embassy in Moscow, calling for the release and extradition of a former Russian citizen who allegedly killed a Russian musician four years ago. The extremist group, founded and led by Dmitriy Vasilyev, carried anti-Zionist banners. The musician who was shot, Igor Talkov, had close ties to Russia's ultra-nationalist movement. Pamyat alleges that Talkov was shot by his manager, Igor Shliafman, who is Jewish.-Jewish Bulletin of Northern California February 2, 1997
On May 5, 1996, a group of neo-Nazis burned an Israeli flag and tore up an American flag in Mayakovsky Square in Moscow, according to Moscow television. Policemen at the scene did not intervene. -Israeli Consulate Bulletin, May 1995
The city of Bryansk, it was reported, had been experiencing a great deal of labor unrest in mid May 1996 because of the closure of industries and the resulting extensive unemployment. Many demonstrations, some of them violent, were being held. At the same time, many posters were put on trees, fences and walls all over Bryansk calling for the Jews to leave for Israel "where they belonged." The posters were signed by an organization calling itself the "Russian National Assembly (Sobor)." - Israeli Consulate Bulletin, June 1996
[See list of Russian extremist parties and more descriptions in supplement at the end of this report, as well as the essay by Dr. Leonid Stonov]
Aleksandr Barkashov's Russian National Unity Party
Founded in 1990, the Russian National Unity Party (RNE), led by Aleksandr Barkashov, has a membership estimated from 2,000 to 20,000 (the RNE's own figure). It also claims to have 350 regional organizations. The RNE uses as its symbol a swastika combined with a cross and its slogan calls for "One Nation, One People, One State." The RNE carries out paramilitary training and calls for, among other things, a ban on interracial marriages in order to keep the gene pool pure.
A young follower of Barkashov said, "Our ideology is based on [three] principles of the RNE: No to the Jews, yes to the authoritarian regime, and yes to Great Russia"
Barkashov told a journalist in an interview: "It is unquestionable that genetic, blood relationship is of the greatest importance...To say that every Orthodox believer or everyone who considers himself Russian is Russian would not be correct. A Georgian or a Jew will say 'I am Russian because I feel so.' But perhaps he feels himself Russian to harm the Russian people.... I consider [Hitler] a great hero of the German nation and all white races. He succeeded in inspiring the entire nation to fight against degradation and the washing away of national values.... When a significant portion of the Russian people accepts this ideology and the party based on this ideology becomes big enough in terms of quality and quantity, the national forces will seize the power....through elections or other means-it does not matter."- Nazification of Russia by Semyon Reznik, 1996
People's National Party
The People's National Party asserts that "Non-Russians or non-Orthodox people should not be granted Russian citizenship...Russian officials should be Russians by heritage and belong to the Orthodox church...Russia shall be a national state of Russians exercising parental guidance over national minorities living in the areas of their historical settlement." - Era Rossii (The Era of Russia) #19, 1996- provided by the Russian-American Bureau on Human Rights (UCSJ), February 1, 1997
Russian Party of Russia
The Russian Party of Russia alleges that "The vicious essence of Zionism has been apparent in our country from the beginning of the 20th century. Therefore the issue of a 100 percent deportation of Jews is justified. All Jews are destroyers by birth, born by the Devil not by God. The Jewish people have been plundered by the Jewish Mafia and are having a bleak existence under an occupational regime in its native land....Either we free ourselves from the Zionist yoke or we must die as a nation."- Russkie Vedomosti (Russian News ) #1 1995
Russian National Movement
At a press briefing in July 1995, members of the Russian National Movement made a completely unsubstantiated allegation concerning deposits of money into Israeli banks: "The Israeli Chief of Police asserted that up to forty million dollars from Russia are deposited into Israeli banks every month, and this is Mafia money. No sirs, this is not Mafia money. It is the money of Jewish millionaires who were planted in our economy by the Americans and Israeli secret services who fulfill their mission of pumping money out of Russia. In a few years, Jewish business all over the world will double its capital at Russia's expense and the country will be ruined." -Russian Americau Bureau on Human Rights (UCSJ), August 1995
The Cossacks
Although their current orientation is less clear, over the last four centuries, the Cossacks have participated in many acts of antisemitic violence. The Cossacks, which are sometimes defined as a Slavic sub-ethnic group, have traditionally lived in Southern Russia, the Volga region, Siberia and the Urals. During tsarist times, they served as border defenders, and more recently have been increasing their participation in politics in the areas in which they live.
The Black Hundreds
The ultranationalist, antisemitic "Society of the Black Hundred" held a party of 300 guests in June 1994 to mark the anniversary of the start of World War II, to raise funds for its newspaper, and to discuss the current threats to Russia from "internal enemies, the freemasons, and the Zionist conspiracy." The society's leader said "efforts are being made all the time to feed us various forms of Masonic philosophy, even if they call it Russian. That way, we'll keep electing sexual perverts or Shalom activists to the presidency." The Society of the Black Hundred goes back to the turn of the century and is notorious for its flagrant antisemitism and Jewish pogroms. -Moscow Times, June 24, 1994
Nationalist neo-Nazi groups are patrolling parks and neighborhoods in Moscow, allegedly responding to the rise in crime, National Public Radio (NPR) reported in an October 12, 1996 radio broadcast. In Terletski Park, there is a red flag with a swastika on it. Russian National Unity for the last three years has patrolled the park, unarmed, but often with dogs. Many local residents, with little faith in the efficacy of the police and a frustration with growing levels of crime, are focusing on these groups' security potential and ignoring their fascist leanings. The NPR correspondent describes a group of elderly people playing dominos and cards just steps from a Russian National Unity swastika emblazoned flag.
In Terletski Park, Russian National Unity makes literature and videos about their movement available to park visitors. One video alleges that the Bolshevik Revolution and World War II were part of a Jewish conspiracy against the Russians. A police officer on a rare patrol of the park told NPR he doesn't like the nationalist group but can do little to stop them, as they have the official permission of the Deputy Head of this region of Moscow to maintain the park's public order. A senior official in the Parks Department several years ago tried to evict Russian National Unity, and subsequently her house was vandalized and other city officials refused to back her up.- National Public Radio: Weekend Edition Saturday, October 12, 1996
Currently the territory of Terletzki Park is still completely controlled by the Barkashov group, who calls it a "Jews-free zone." Young men in black distribute Russkiy Poradok (Russian Order), the Russian National Unity Party newspaper, in the Metro trains passing through this region.-Russian-American Bureau on Human Rights (UCSJ) report by Director Alexander Lieberman, 1996
In June 1996 in Pskov, Vadim Gruzinin, the chair of the local branch of the nationalist Russian Party "Ruskaya Partiya," defeated a democratic opponent to become a deputy of the town Duma and associate chair of the Budget and Taxes Committee. His party comrade, Semenkov, became the Duma Affairs Coordinator. The program of the Russian Party includes "liberation from the Russia Freemasonic and Zionist yoke and the return of what had been stolen by Zionists to the working people." In Pskov, the Russian Party has opened free fitness centers for teenagers, and has used negative stereotypes of the democratic party to prove that it is the Russian Party which will care for and protect the town-Citizens Watch, January 22, 1997 (See full essay on Pskov at the end of this chapter)
On January 17, 1996 activists of Alexandr Barkashov's fascist paramilitary group Russian National Unity (RNE) disrupted a meeting between Israeli representatives of the Jewish Agency for Israel and local Jewish leaders in Orel. The Russian National Unity chanted "Death to the Jews" and sold copies of the antisemitic newspaper Russian Order. However, local police authorities declared that the RNE's actions were not "a disruption of the public order" and refused to intervene. The official newspaper of the Orel administration, Orlovskaya Pravda, published an article on January 20, 1996 on the RNE that barely discussed the demonstration but "explained" the RNE's "anti Jewish platform." The article alleged that most conflict results from a conspiracy of international Zionism, and that at the center of the Jewish ideology is the hatred of all non-Jews. The article also alleged that this "Zionist" movement controls most of the financial capital of developed countries, and that a war is being mounted from the United States in an effort to destroy Russia.
There is evidence that local authorities in Orel are closely connected to extremist political movements. Yegor Stroiyev, the Governor of the Orel region, and as of January 23, 1996 chairman of the upper house of the Russian Parliament, is connected to both Russian National Unity and General Alexander Sterligov's fascist Russian National Sobor. In 1993, a Union of Councils Orel correspondent interviewed Stroiyev. When asked about the rise of fascism in Orel, Stroiyev said "I think every people, including Russians, has the right to their own culture."-Union of Councils Press Release 1996
On March 4, 1996, a nationalist group in Orel, "the Party of National Revival," appealed to the Regional Commission on Aid to Repressed People for the rehabilitation of Sergey Nilus, the Orel born author of the antisemitic, Tsarist forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which was banned in the 1920s. The Commission is considering the question of his rehabilitation. Pavel Merkulov, one of the leaders of the Party of National Revival, is the former chairman of the Committee of Youth Affairs of Orel. Merkulov was recently appointed the Vice Minister for Youth Affairs of Russia.- Express Chronicle, March 4, 1996
In several schools in Orel, work has resumed on carrying out the game "Zarnitsa" ("heat lightening") as well as many other military-patriotic games. These games started in connection with the recent decree by Yegor Stroiyev, Governor of the Orel region. In the near future, the administration plans to expand the decree to all schools in the city.-Express Chronicle, January 1,1996
On January 14,1996, a demonstration of the extremist party Russian National Unity was held in the city of Orel under the slogan "Beat the Zhids!" The authorities and law enforcement bodies did not act. Also, on January 20, 1996, the newspaper of the regional administration Orlovskaya Pravda (Orel Truth) published a long article that spoke warmly of the slogans and actions of the Russian National Unity-Russian-American Bureau on Human Rights (UCSJ)
On January 6, 1997, a regional human rights commission was created and ratified by the Orel regional administration. Against the recommendations of the Moscow Helskini Group, Sergei Minokov was appointed to the commission. Minokov, a teacher at the pedagogical institute, is notorious in Orel for articles in which he expresses regret that the alliance between Hitler and Stalin is not well known and affirms the "necessity of imperial interests for Russia."-Express Chronicle March 13, 1997
On April 16, 1996, the Express Chronicle reported that the Orel state Television and Radio Company refused to produce a special TV program on the day of memory for Holocaust Victims (Yom Hashoah). Vladimir Babin, chairman of the company, made this refusal in response to a request for the program by the Orel Jewish community.-Leonid Lvov, Harold Light Jewish Center on Human Rights (UCSJ), St. Petersburg
Orlovskaya Iskra, February 1996: This newspaper is published by the Orel regional committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The article is on the fourth page and is written by B. Krilov. It is called "Why Does Chubais Rule Us?" The article says: " We are not antisemites. We honor the Jews deeply-those who were our comrades during the battles, who fought heroically against the enemies. But we can't respect and stand those Jews in the government who rob and sell Russia....Jews' bankers, organizing and financing Yeltsin's elections, placed him into dependence on them and made him pay his debt to them. The first thing was a new assignment of the Jew Chubais [Chubais is not Jewish- Editor's note] as the head of the President's administration in spite of the criminal case against him in the General Procurator's office...The Communist faction in the State Duma demands the destruction of the banker-Jews' lobby and the reconstruction of the power of the people!"-Newspaper provided by E. Mendelevich March 1, 1997 (See full essay on Orel at the end of this chapter)
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