The Dangers Of Antisemitic Terrorism in Russia
By Leonid Stonov, International Director of the UCSJ Human Rights
Bureaus in the FSU Before the Helsinki Commission of the U.S. Congress 2255
Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 10:00 a.m. - September 8,
1999
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you about monitoring of the
fundamental human rights, including the right for national-cultural-religious
autonomy under protection of the law. I will speak mostly about antisemitism,
although there are many other forms of xenophobia. These Congressional hearings
about antisemitism are the third for the year besides emotional appeal of the 99
Senators to President Yeltsin in June 1999. It is difficult to overestimate an
influence of these discussions of political realities on both sides of the
Atlantic Ocean. We can speak about systematic Congressional monitoring of this
important problem, and it deserves the highest appreciation. The Congress
continues remarkable traditions of Senator Jackson and Congres- sman Vanik, who
during a difficult for the Soviet Jews time proposed the historic Amendment,
which opened the exit gates for more than million Soviet Jews. Also we
appreciate Senator Lautenberg's important initiative. His Amendment has for 10
years helped Jews and other persecuted religious minorities from the FSU to
enter the USA as refugees. I hope that this Amendment action will be extended
for the next fiscal year. I also want to thank the Helsinki Commission
delegation led by Congressman Christopher Smith, who raised the question of
antisemitism and other important human rights problems in Russia during the last
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Petersburg two months ago. I will not touch on
here concrete and numerous facts of antisemitism in the different regions of
Russia because in the next few weeks the Union of Councils will issue a new
report - the second supple- mental edition - about antisemitic events in 50
regions of Russia in 1998-1999, about antisemitism in nationalistic parties and
movements' ideologies, about using this shameful phenomena in the pre-elections
campaigns, about absence of response of all authority branches to antisemitism
and other kinds of xenophobia. In this report we use results of the MHG-UCSJ
monitoring, sponsored by the US AID (special thanks to this Agency), and also
information from our Bureaus and correspondents from many Russian cities and
towns. My goal today is to characterize the peculiari- ties of modern
antisemitism, which is flourishing in Russia. Antisemitism is not only heritage
of the Tsarist and Soviet regimes. It is a reflection of political, economic and
moral crisis that affected Russia and the other post-Soviet countries. Modern
escalation of antisemitism is in part in due to the weakening presidential
power. The FSB role and activity have increased during last months. This
organization as in the past controls the whole life of the country, including
Internet and information about environmental contamination (Nikitin, Pasko, and
Soifer cases). The FSB also tries to influence the results of future elections.
And, finally, big pre-election blocks with in-obvious ideology like
"Fatherland"-"The whole Russia" of Primakov-Luzhkov is being created, which will
try to influence the election process. Degradation of the economy is continuing,
capital is flowing out and not into Russia. Poverty, drug addiction, child
prostitution and criminality are rising. Longevity is decreasing. At the same
time manifestations of xenophobia and other kinds of ethnic and religious
intolerance are on the increase. Religious freedoms are suppressed. The Russian
Orthodox Church role as carrier of the almost state religion has increased.
Extremist and chauvinistic attitudes are growing and anti-Western, especially
anti-American, propaganda in mass media is on the rise. The search for enemies
and scapegoats is broadening. We are focusing today on analysis of antisemitism
because German National Socialism started from these phenomena, and many people
did not believe that Hitler's theories in "Main Kampf" could be implemented. As
old people remember now, National Socialism was an ideology, which most normal
persons in the world did not take seriously. Only when military actions started
in Europe in 1939 did they react. They waited too long to fight. Many people
also underestimate Russian national extremism in the same way. I am sure that
open antisemitic appeals of Makashov, Iluikhin, Kondratenko, Barkashov and other
extremists-chauvinists in the autumn of 1998 - winter 1999, which did not
provoke any response from those in authority, resulted in a chain of terrorist
acts in the summer, 1999. It seems that this was the beginning not only of
physical, but also of psychological attacks against Jews, which were designed to
intimidate. I mean numerous happened and not-happened explosions outside and
inside all Moscow synagogues, in the Moscow Jewish Theater "Shalom"; attempt
upon the life of Jewish Children Center director Leopold Kaimovsky in the Moscow
Choral Synagogue on July 13, 1999; several dummy reports about bombs in order to
stimulate panic among Jews; synagogues pogroms in Novosibirsk (March, 1999) and
Birobijan (May, 1999); open appeal by TV in St.Petersburg (August, 1999) to
expels Jews and Caucasian people; antisemitic slogans with threats on school
walls in Orel and other cities; Mr.V.Chernomyrdin and numerous politicians and
journalists antisemitic remarks about Jewish oligarchs; slaughters of rabbis and
Jewish activists (Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod); antisemitic campaign in the
mass-media (N.Novgorod, Ekaterinburg, Samara, Penza, Orel, Petersburg, Pskov,
etc.). Well known writer Valentin Rasputin again joined antisemitic campaign, as
well as many others from the Russian Writers' Union in Moscow, which long ago
became a nucleus of Russian nationalists. Stalin's grandson Eugene Dzhugashvilli
dragged out of naphthalene an old myth about Zionist conspiracy and threat to
the entire world. Simultaneously there were Nazi activities directed against
Jews and Blacks in Chicago and Los Angeles, that Russian nationalists applauded.
However the American government or the people does not tolerate these
activities. In contrast the Russian government made only halfhearted attempts to
catch the perpetrators of these crimes. Russian authorities did not catch
anybody who organized bomb explosions and attacks (besides N.Krivchun, Moscow
synagogue security guard detained him after his attack against L.Kaimovsky and
then passed him to police), although character of all explosions and equipment
were similar in Moscow. It seems that well organized group is behind these
explosions and attempts on Jewish lives and property. The number of extremist
and chauvi- nistic organizations with open or hidden antisemitic ideology has
increased in Russia. The main are: Russian National Unity (RNU), Movement in
Support of Army, Military Industry and Science (which Iliukhin wanted to rename
to Movement Against Kikes), LDPR (Zhirinovsky Party), KPRF (Zuganov Party),
World Russian People Council (Sobor), Congress of the Russian Communities,
Natio- nal-Bolshevik Party, "Otechestvo" ("Fatherland") of N.Kondraten- ko,
"Pamyat" of D.Vasiliev, Russian All-People Union, Russian National Socialistic
Party, Skinheads, Veneds Union, Cossacks Union, People's National Party,
National Republican Party and many others. The UCSJ and MHG monitoring allows us
today to alert the world that there are whole regions in Russia, where human
rights violations and antisemitism have become the policy of local authorities.
I would like to name them hoping that Russian human rights activists will help
to strengthen local democrats. Businessmen, especially from the West, should
know what to expect in these regions of Russia. And it is useful for politicians
to know who is who, because officials from these regions often visit the Western
countries. The first group of regions is Krasnodarsky and Stavropolsky krays,
Volgograd and Pskov oblasts. The level of the national extremism reached here
the highest point, and ultra-nationalism became a part of an official ideology,
RNU takes here the strongest positions. The next group - Vladimir, Tula,
Voronezh and Kursk oblasts. Here communists are dominant, and their policy
encourages the strong nationalism. Ulianovsk, Bryansk and Kemerovo oblasts.
Leftists' radicals and communists are in power. They violate human rights,
restrict economic and other freedoms, but directly do not support national
extremist organizations. The restoration of Orthodox Bolshevism takes place
here. The old nomenclatura in Orel oblast is in power, although it does not
share any ideology. Human rights are broadly violated, the RNU continues to be
very strong and influential. Primorsky kray, Bashkortostan and Kalmykia - the
administration implant authoritarism, clans support system without any visible
ideology. I would like to discredit the myth that the struggle against political
extremism and antisemitism is the result of the lack of legislation. There are
the laws in books, but they are not enforced. Of course, it's the positive step
that Ministry of Justice developed and sent to the Duma in July 1999, the draft
of the Anti-Extremism Law, but the Duma is not on hurry to fix the date of
hearings. The Russian Constitution, and may be not very prominent, but quite
clear Laws "About mass media" and "About public associations", and at last the
new Russian Criminal Code (articles 282 - rising racial, ethnic and religious
hatred; 205 - terrorism; 105 - murder and attempt upon life on the ground of
ethnic and religious hatred) continue to be legislative basis of non-admission
of extremism and national-chauvinism. As Mrs. Luidmila Alexeeva, chairperson of
MHG, said, those who are supposed to protect the people, are, in fact, the
perpetrators of crime against the people. President Yeltsin, in his discussion
with President Clinton in Cologne in June 1999, promised to fight antisemitism
in Russia if President Clinton could have proved that it existed. The Union of
Councils provided President Clinton with evidence of antisemitism and right
violations in Russia. Later the UCSJ provided Vice-President Gore with the same
materials before his meeting with Prime-Minister Stepashin in July 1999. Russian
leaders in their discussions with the foreign leaders, including Israeli
Prime-Minister Barak, readily acknowledged antisemitic events, but refrained
from public statements at home. The strong impression is that antisemitism has
so deeply and widely penetrated all aspects of the society that Russian leaders
are afraid to rebuff chauvinists-nationa- lists in order not to lose votes. The
state antisemitism merged with public (street) antisemitism. From time of the
disintegra- tion of the Soviet Union in 1991, antisemitism has become the
biggest threat to Jewish physical existence. The mutual and the first time
during many years' clear position of the Russian Jewish leaders indirectly
supports this thesis. Many people are so accustomed to antisemitism, that they
try not to notice it, as they often do not respond to contamination of air and
water in their regions. The others do not want to irritate the authorities,
because they are afraid that "it could be worse". But now many leaders led by
V.Goosinsky, the RJC President, sharply spoke that the Russian government showed
"impermissible indifference and open irresponsibility by turning the blind eye
on the antisemitic escapades of individual politicians and whole parties"
(Interfax, July 13, 1999). A.Shaevich, chief Rabbi of Russia, strongly condemned
attack on L.Kaimovsky, but before the investigation was over, he said that
N.Krivchun acted alone. We are sure that absence of the strong reaction of the
all branches of authorities, including court system, to inspiration of
inter-ethnic and inter-religious hatred is a manifestation of state
antisemitism. The new phenomenon is that antisemitism is openly declared as
ideology of some parties and movements. The elucidation of parts of the Jewish
blood became the certain component of the election campaigns in the country. We
hope that operating together and efficiently we do not allow an escalation of
the violence, inter-ethnic and inter-religious hatred in Russia, and by this we
will promote the growth of democracy and market economy, and establish stable
peace and agreement in the society. Thank you.