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Kremlin analyst fights world Masonic conspiracy.
by Dmitry Koptev
Izvestiia, 7 October 2000
According to an Izvestiia report, a few days ago the chief of staff of the presidency, Vladimir Kozhin, ordered the liquidation of the state enterprise "Informational Analytical Agency." This happened after the publication in one of the central newspapers of an article by the general director of this enterprise, Alexander Ignatov, titled "Strategy for globalizational leadership for Russia."
We have learned from unofficial sources that after the publication, someone from the Kremlin administration called Chief of Staff Vladimir Kozhin with the question: "Who is this man?" Kozhin promised to find out. Attempts to confirm or disprove officially this information have led to a surprising result: workers of the chief of staff's office have stubbornly made it seem that they have never heard either of Alexander Ignatov or of the agency he heads. In the department of personnel, to which the Izvestiia reporter was transferred from Kozhin's secretary, they answered with irritation: "We never had any such thing." Obviously this was not the first time they faced this question. They did not know anything about their colleagues even in the Informational Analytical administration of the chief of staff. However it seems that in the summer they had seen an announcement in some newspaper about the liquidation of this enterprise.
Nevertheless since the article that was published in September of this year was accompanied by an official letter from the administration of the president, we are forced to think that the enterprise existed. Otherwise it is necessary to presuppose that Alexander Ignatov is a reckless man who for the sake of getting his article published committed a criminal act (illegal use of governmental office and forgery).
It is curious that the "Informational Analytical Agency," that was leftover from the previous chief of staff, Pavel Borodin, continued to exist until recently within the structure of the chief of staff's office, as a result of a misunderstanding. The point is that the founder of this enterprise was the Federal Accounting Center of the chief of staff's office, that was dissolved last summer. Naturally once the founder ceased to exist, its structural off-spring should also have disappeared. However it seems that in the confusion of summer, when most workers were on vacation, they simply forgot about the agency.
What appears on first view to be a strange position taken by the workers of the president's administration is completely explainable by the invectives that are contained in Ignatov's article. In developing the currently fashionable topic of globalization, the writer of the article, in particular, declares the following: "The key factor influencing contemporary globalization processes is the activity of the World government. Without going into the blood curdling details that are sketched out for us by numerous conspiracy theories, it is necessary to recognize that this superstate structure is quite effectively fulfilling the role of the general staff of the 'New world order.' However in its work this organization is oriented toward the interests of a small elite that is united by ethnic kinship and the initiative of lodges of a destructive tendency. This circumstance, namely the usurpation of power within the World government by a hasidic-paramasonic group, requires immediate correction." In order the correct the situation that has arisen, Alexander Ignatov suggests the immediate introduction "of Russian representatives into numerous secret organizations that constitute the invisible bases of the power of the world government, the Masonic and paramasonic lodges, 'secret' orders, and other such institutions."
Naturally such declarations made by a man who is in government service could not but evoke a reaction abroad. International Jewish organizations and the US Department of State did not delay in expressing their concern about the "antisemitic declarations of one of the officials of the administration of the president." Distancing itself as much as possible from such an obnoxious individual was a natural reaction by the administration.
Meanwhile, information found by Izvestiia in the course of the investigation it conducted does not permit one to conclude that Alexander Ignatov is just an innocent, amateur theoretician. He is a member of the supervisory council of the Institute for the Strategy of Universal Development. Moreover, the article in question originally is an abbreviated version of the "doctrine" of this institute. The institute engages more often in another secret investigation. At least, an attempt to open up most of the links on the website of this institutions meet with the notice: "Access forbidden." Besides Ignatov, the supervisory council includes several other persons, including the director of the Institute of Social and Political Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN), Gennady Osipov, the director of the Institute of Eastern Studies of RAN, Rostislav Rybakov, and the head of the Academy of the General Staff, Viktor Chechevatov. The council is headed by the general director of the Federal Accounting Center, Alexander Legkobitov.
Besides, a number of the proposals from Alexander Ignatov's works have already received their own implementation in the policies that are being carried out by the leadership of the country. It can hardly be considered accidental that the president recognized the tiny group of hassidic Jews as representatives of all Russian Jews. In this regard the remark by Putin that he uttered at the opening of the hassidic Jewish congregational center is noteworthy: "The Federation of Jewish Congregations of Russia (the organization uniting the hassidic congregations of Russia) was created just a year ago, but it has been able to show itself to be a constructive and influential organization which not only unites the Jewish people but, it can be said, even we in the ruling structure feel its influence upon us; it even influences us."
In his articles, Ignatov speaks of the necessity to introduce a state religion in Russia; at present an active process of growing closeness between church and state is underway. He writes about the need for creating in the provinces banks of federal subordination; recently a leader of the pro-government "Unity" fraction has been promoting this idea. Thus one can assert that the analytical notes that were hatched in the bowels of the president's chief of staff's office have not been left without attention. (tr. by PDS, posted 13 October 2000)
A statement by Russia's Interior Minister has raised further concerns among religious minorities about their legal rights. In a visit to Volgograd last week, Vladimir Rushailo said that police and clergy should join forces to oppose cults and sects that "aim to undermine statehood in Russia."
Rushailo said he has discussed this kind of cooperation with Patriarch Alexy II, the head of the Russian Orthodox church.
The Interior Minister’s statement is the Russian government's "clearest response" to the Orthodox Church's desire for a special relationship with the state, contends Paul Goble, a professor at the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C., and director of communications for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The Orthodox Church helped draft a law on religion in 1997 that gives it preferred status as a "traditional religion." However, courts have struck down several provisions of that law as violations of the principles of freedom of conscience established by the 1993 Russian Constitution.
Mark Elliott, a researcher of religion in Russia, says Rushailo's statement is one of many that point in the direction of Orthodox-state collaboration, but "it is too early to say that it is a watershed" announcement. "There are a lot of statements to indicate that this government isn't speaking consistently," said Elliott, director of the Global Center at Samford University in Alabama. Government officials, for example, have given conflicting signals on the state's attitude toward Jews. In September, President Vladimir Putin dedicated a new Jewish community center in Moscow, hailing it as a demonstration of a new era of tolerance in Russia. Putin said the country's "spiritual revival is unthinkable without the understanding that Russian culture is a combination of the traditions of all the people who have lived in Russia for centuries."
Earlier in September, however, an official in Putin's administration wrote an article in the influential national newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta, alleging a Jewish conspiracy to control the world that requires "immediate correction." Aleksandr Ignatov, the general director of the Information Analytical Agency of the Department of Affairs, said legislation should be introduced "as soon as possible" to establish the "concept of state religion to which Orthodoxy and Islam should be relegated."
Ignatov also called for the creation of a Ministry of Ideology and Propaganda in Russia to manage "tasks in the ideological sphere." The 1997 law repealed a portion of the 1990 religious freedom law that banned the Council of Religious Affairs, a controlling agency that operated under the former Soviet system.
Elliott notes that Alexy has stated repeatedly he does not want a formal church-state relationship. "He doesn't want such a close connection that the state can manipulate the church as in the past," Elliott said. The Orthodox Church at times became a tool of the state under communist rule and, prior to 1917, under the Tsars, Elliott said.
However, Russian Orthodox Church clergy, including Alexy, often have referred to minority religious groups as foreign sects that undermine Russian culture, and they have looked to the government for help in controlling them.
Recently, Alexy has been confronted with charges that during the Soviet era he was a KGB agent who spied on clergy and church members. The church denies the allegations, but the Keston Institute insists documentary evidence from KGB archives supports the claim. Alexy has staunchly defended Putin, a former KGB head, supporting his policy in Chechnya and his handling of the Kursk submarine tragedy, for example.
In its annual report on religious liberty issued in September, the United States State Department said human rights "observers remain deeply concerned that President Putin has not expressed a firm commitment to freedom of religion publicly and point to the continued public association of the Presidential Administration with the Russian Orthodox Church as evidence of favoritism."
The Moscow Patriarchy dismissed the report's conclusions as an interference in Russia's internal affairs, asserting that "Orthodox Christianity has for a thousand years been the largest Russian confession, followed by an absolute majority of the country's citizens. While all traditional religions are equal before the law, they are not equal before history."
About half of the country's citizens consider themselves Orthodox, according to opinion polls, but only a small percentage attend church regularly. A 1999 poll by the Center of Sociological Studies at Moscow State University found that only 20 percent of respondents in the capital who identify themselves as Orthodox are regular churchgoers, while elsewhere only 7 percent attend church regularly.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union a decade ago, the number of religious organizations has tripled. According to Ministry of Justice statistics in January, Russia has registered 17,427 groups.
Russia watcher Paul Steeves believes the Orthodox church "exercises its power by having its hand on the levers of state power" rather than having influence over the minds and hearts of the people. "Society isn't necessarily going to side with the Orthodox even thought the majority of the people identify themselves with it," said Steeves, professor of history at Stetson University in De Land, Florida. "Most people have a fairly cynical attitude toward the church and don't have much understanding of its ideas."
Last week the U.S. State Department condemned a September 17 attack on a Jewish school in Ryazan and August 20 attacks on Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons in Volgograd, the site of Rushailo's remarks. The U.S. called on Russian authorities to "conduct full and thorough investigations on an urgent basis."
Goble believes that at least some Russians who view religious minorities as a threat may read Rushailo's statement as Moscow's response to the U.S., interpreting his words as a green light to attack religious minorities, even if that was not his intention. "Given the disorder in Russia, I am worried not so much about a centrally ordered sweeping crackdown, but that he is going to create that image that says to local officials that Moscow will tolerate it if we (attack)," Goble told Newsroom. That kind of approach would give Putin "deniability," Goble said, so that he can say "That is not what I intended."
Elliott says that although foreign missionaries have had problems with provincial authorities -- about a dozen instances of deportation have occurred in the past six months -- there is a "pattern of greater discrimination" against indigenous non-Orthodox groups. Steeves agrees, citing recent complaints coming from more established groups. The Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists has charged that local authorities across the country are favoring the Orthodox church and inhibiting the work of evangelism. "That is a surprising source," Steeves said, noting that complaints until recently have come from foreign and newer groups. "It suggests that there is a movement underfoot by local authorities."
Elliott said that the situation for religious minorities is further complicated by regional laws that contradict the federal law on religion. Some even have been passed since the 1997 religion law went into effect, he explained. (posted 13 October 2000)
A series of meetings of leaders of evangelical unions on the topic of the creation of an alliance of protestant churches of Russia is being planned for the middle of October. The first meeting, at which a "first step" was taken in discussion of this matter, was held at the end of September. This was reported to the "Blagovest-info" agency by the chairman of the Russian United Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith (Pentecostals), Bishop Sergei Riakovsky. A positive attitude toward the creation of an alliance has been expressed by practically all protestant organizations of Russia.
The need for creating such an alliance was evoked by the concerns of unions of evangelical churches over the situation that has now developed in relations between state structures in the provinces and the evangelical churches. "We are disturbed by what is happening by way of specific violations of the law with respect to our churches, and all of this is being done, sad to say, following concrete decisions and resolutions adopted at the bishops' council of the Russian Orthodox church," Sergei Riakovsky stated in the interview with Blagovest-info. "This bothers us greatly, especially the well-publicized resolution regarding the relationship of the Russian Orthodox church to the heterodox."
Sergei Riakovsky noted that it is still too early to talk about what form this union will take. The most important thing, he thinks, is that this be "not a nominal union," but a "spiritual" one, built on bases that are common for the protestant churches. (tr. by PDS, posted 11 October 2000)
Washington, 9 October 2000 (RFE/RL) -- New Russian government efforts to enlist the Orthodox Church in Moscow's fight against religious minorities -- who some Russian officials say threaten Russia -- could threaten religious liberty in that country.
Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo said in Volgograd on Friday that the Russian police and religious leaders should combine forces to oppose cults and sects which "aim to undermine statehood in Russia."
Rushailo's remarks represent the Russian government's clearest response so far to requests from the Russian Orthodox Church for a special relationship with the state and to the court-imposed limitations on government controls over religious groups.
Since the collapse of Soviet power, Russian Orthodox hierarchs have sought to enlist the government in opposing the missionary activities of various non-indigenous religious groups, denominations which the Orthodox often describe as "foreign."
Responding to this effort, the Russian government drafted and passed a law that not only underscored the special relationship between the state and Orthodoxy, but also set the stage for Russian government moves against religious competitors.
But last year, Russia's Constitutional Court struck down several provisions of that law, after a group of Jehovah's Witnesses argued that the law violated the principle of freedom of conscience as enshrined in the 1993 Russian Constitution.
Rushailo's proposed alliance between state and church thus appears to be an effort to circumvent this ruling. On the one hand, it could open the way for the state to use the church to fight some of its battles.
And on the other, this alliance may suggest to both Orthodox and others that at least some in the church are prepared to play the kind of intelligence and control function that some priests and hierarchs played during Soviet times.
The timing of Rushailo's suggestion makes it particularly likely that his remarks will be especially troubling both to followers of minority denominations and to those concerned about religious and human rights.
Last Tuesday, the U.S. State Department publicly condemned attacks on a Jewish school in Ryazan on September 17, and on assemblies of Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons in Volgograd -- the site of Rushailo's remarks -- on August 20.
The State Department called on the Russian authorities to "conduct full and thorough investigations on an urgent basis," and said that "those responsible should be prosecuted to the fullest extent under Russian law."
The U.S. statement provided details on all three attacks. In Ryazan, the statement said, a group of youths had broken into a Jewish Saturday school, shouted anti-Semitic slogans, and intimidated the local principal into denying the Jews further use of the school.
Local officials have told the media that they are investigating the case. But they have made no arrests, and at least one Ryazan official dismissed the event as simple hooliganism with no broader meaning.
In Volgograd, the State Department noted, other groups of extremists burst into the services of the two Christian denominations and beat worshipers, directly threatening several Mormon missionaries from the United States.
In addition, the statement pointed out, officials close to President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and regional officials whom the Kremlin actively supports have made openly anti-Semitic remarks.
Such actions and remarks, the State Department said, "undermine efforts to create a tolerant society under the rule of law." It added that "all Russian citizens must be afforded the greatest possible protection of their religious and hard-won democratic freedoms."
At least some Russians who view religious minorities as a threat may read Rushailo's words as Moscow's response to the U.S. on this point, and thus see his words as a kind of official blessing for attacks on religious minorities -- even if that was not his intention.
If that should happen, then the tragic events of Ryazan and Volgograd may very well be repeated elsewhere, a development that could threaten not only the followers of minority religions in Russia, but the very possibility of religious freedom in the country. (posted 10 October 2000)
MINISTER CRITICIZES SECTS
Moscow Times Saturday, October 7, 2000
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOSCOW -- Police and religious leaders should work together to prevent the spread of sects that are undermining the country, Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo said Friday.
Rushailo, visiting the southern region of Volgograd, said religious sects are spreading rapidly in the provinces, Itar-Tass reported.
Russian Orthodox Church leaders and politicians routinely lump small denominations together as "cults'' or "sects.''
"We are concerned over the fact that emerging sects aim to undermine statehood in Russia,'' Rushailo said at a meeting of religious leaders.
Rushailo suggested that his ministry, which controls the police, should pool efforts with church leaders to battle sects. He said he discussed such cooperation in meetings with Patriarch Alexy II, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
MINISTER CONCERNED OVER SPREAD OF SECTS IN RUSSIA
by Andrei Marychev and Sergei Trofimov
ITAR-TASS, 6 October 2000
Various sects have been spreading in Russia's regions of late. Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo pointed this out at a meeting with representatives of religious confessions in Volgograd on Friday. "We are concerned over the fact that emerging sects aim for undermining statehood in Russia," the minister said.
He believes that in order to prevent such development, the Interior Ministry and the clergy should pool their efforts and act jointly. "It is precisely at meetings with the clergy that we determine the basic trends of our interaction," the minister said.
Rushailo said there is a need for educating citizens and meeting their spiritual needs. He said that in this connection his meetings with Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia are very important. The situation in Chechnya is, specifically, discussed there, Rushailo said. He said intensive work is under way there to restore temples.
Besides meetings with representatives of religious confession in Volgograd, Rushailo laid wreaths in the memorial complex on the Mamai Hill. he also had conversations with veteran policemen and with relatives and families of policemen who were killed while performing their duties. (posted 10 October 2000)
President Putin's wife flew to a monastery on a plane for billionaires.
by Larisa Kallioma, Dmitry Koptev
Izvestiia, 5 October 2000
On her nameday, 29 September, the wife of Russia's president, Liudmila Putina, made a personal visit to Pskov during which she spent time at the Snetogorsk [Sniatogorsk] convent and the Pskov caves monastery. And this surprise pilgrimage, which was accompanied by unprecedented secrecy, has evoked a multitude of questions.
At noon on 29 September, a light-wing white airplane taxied up to the Pskov airport building. A passenger with a short haircut emerged from it whose face looked very familiar to the airport personnel. After a short time by their joint efforts the women recalled: "That's Putina, wife of the president." After a few minutes they shared a great laugh in the dispatch room because, judging by everything, the passenger who arrived in a small foreign aircraft actually was the first lady of the country and nobody had met her with an enormous, splendid bouquet.
Liudmila Putina and the clerics (a man and a woman, who according to reports is a nun and Putina's personal spiritual advisor) who arrived with her got into a black jeep with several security guards in a second jeep. They immediately took the route for which the president's wife had come to Pskov. Putina spent time at two cloisters, the Pskov caves monastery and the Snetogorsk convent. While the trip to the first can easily be understood to be ceremonial (hosting authorities of Pskov always take high ranking visitors to the cloister which has been operating since the fourteenth century), it is possible only to guess at the reason for Liudmila Putina's visit to the Snetogorsk convent. One guess could be suggested by a coincidence. As is known, 29 September is the nameday of the great martyr saint Liudmila, whose name is shared by the abbess of the Sniatogorsk cloister. But for some strange reason the president's wife was not introduced to Mother Liudmila. True the abbess of the monastery did not deny that they had met and people around the abbess claim that probably Liudmila Putina approached her for a blessing like an ordinary parishioner after the service in the church.
In general, the impression is created that the organizers of the first lady's trip to Pskov did everything possible so as not to reveal the traveller as the wife of the head of the country but, on the contrary, to "hide" her among numerous tourists and pilgrims. In any case, any kind of special security measures during the whole trip about Pskov province that Putina made were not noticed. But as Izvestiia was told at the press service of the Federal Security Service (FSO), the whole complex of necessary measures required for accompanying state figures of such a rank was taken. The only detail of that complex was mentioned inadvertently by a staff member of the press service, Sergei Deviatov: "The vehicles in which Liudmila and those accompanying her rode were provided by the administration of Pskov province." According to other information, Liudmila Putina was accompanied by Mercedes jeeps with St. Petersburg license plates. Representatives of UFSB for Pskov province all learned about Liudmila Putina's visit to the territory for which they are responsible only from Izvestiia reporters. Mechanics of the Pskov airport were not permitted to service the plane on which the first lady arrived. As workers of the Aviation Technology Base (ATB) told Izvestiia, this happens every time a plane of foreign aviation companies comes to Pskov. It does not matter how high ranking the passengers are. "Foreign planes do not need service; they come with their own mechanics and they remain off to the side by themselves," the Friday visit was summed up at the Pskov ATB.
The Putins are religious, but not in a showy way. It is known, for example, that the president wears a pectoral cross. He told a story about it in the Larry King interview: the dacha caught fire and none of the property could be saved, but in the ashes he found the cross that his mother had given him, which had survived the fire unharmed. Since then he has not taken it off. It is known that Putin has a spiritual advisor, but who he is and what kind of relations he has with the president, nobody knows. And to direct questions the president responds with either no comment or curt answers. Little more is known about Liudmila Putina. The Petersburg media reported that after a bad accident in 1993 she suffered a nervous breakdown. She turned to God and that helped bring her around. However there is little information about this. Liudmila Putina's personality is very much concealed from the public. During official visits reporters practically never accompany the president's wife in her personal itinerary.
The president's family generally has some kind of special relationship to the sacred places of Pskov. On 11 April 2000 Vladimir Putin, then acting president of RF, sent a letter of a monk of the Pskov caves monastery, Archimandrite Ioann Krestiankin, in which he greeted him on his ninetieth birthday. The incident was unprecedented in the whole history not only of postsoviet Russia but even Russia in general: the head of state sent birthday greetings to a simple monk.
Back in the remote seventies, Father Ioann was famous as a spiritual guide. Mainly thanks to him, the Pskov caves monastery became one of the chief centers of Orthodox culture in the Soviet Union. In the postsoviet period Archimandrite Ioann has been outspoken as one of the chief thinkers of Orthodoxy, whose point of view clearly is more significant than the opinion of Moscow hierarchs.
Naturally, the "Chekist" Putin was well informed about the real role and influence in Russian church life of the modest elder and recluse. On 2 August, in the course of a visit to Pskov province, the president personally visited the monastery and over an hour conversed with Father Ioann in his cell, one on one. It was a remarkable coincidence; the president's name day was on 28 July and he went to the monastery a few days afterward. However this probably was simply accidental.
In Pskov diocese secrecy has been scrupulously maintained and Izvestiia has been able only to confirm that the visit happened. Attempts to discover details have met with open hostility. "I will not say a word or syllable more. You are engaged in a bad business. This is her personal affair, and you can ask her and if she wishes she will answer," Archbishop Evsevy, administrator of the Pskov diocese, declared to an Izventiia reporter.
Nor did the Swiss aviation company Jet Aviation, which specializes in transportation of VIP's, release any information. It was on its plane that Liudmila Putina flew to Pskov. The services of this company also are used by Boris Berezovsky. An investigative call ("Does Boris Abramovich really use the services of Jet Aviation?") to "LogoVAZ" ended abruptly. "What business is it of yours?" they answered at the "residence" of the former oligarch, and threw down the receiver. But it was on a Jet Aviation plane, more to the point, the very same model (Challenger 601) that the Russian Oligarch made a forced landing at Dusseldorf. Russian JA Director Leonid Koshelev, interrupted in a cell phone conversation, responded extremely cautiously that Liudmila Putina had not ordered the plane. However he qualified that his office does not deal directly with charters but provides airport servicing, air corridors, and such technical matters and he advised calling the charter departments in Moscow and Zurich. There an Izvestiia reporter was told twice, in Russian and English, that they do not have the right to give out such information. No, we cannot even say whether a JA plane flew to Russia at all on that day. However, we do not deny the possibility of such a flight in principle. Well, what kind of plane did you say? Challenger 601? Just a minute; I should check. It costs 6550 Swiss franks (almost 3800 dollars) an hour.
There are no planes of that type in Moscow. Only one "modest" Falcon 50 is in the company's terminal at Sheremetevo. When needed they can bring in a Challenger from Switzerland or Germany. This transfer takes from three to three and a half hours. Another two hours to Pskov and back. At a minimum, the flight to Pskov has to cost the treasury more than 30,000 dollars. At the press service of the administration of the president they categorically refused to answer the question regarding which budget account paid to rent the Challenger. But this is progress: if a private firm paid for Liudmila Putina's flight to the monastery, the situation would have appeared entirely different. (tr. by PDS, posted 10 October 2000)
by Masha Lipman
Itogi, 3 October 2000
Anatoly Shcharansky, a prominent Israeli politician who spent nine years in soviet labor camps because he fought for Jewish rights of emigration to Israel, recently came to Moscow for the ceremonial opening of the Jewish Center, which also was honored by the presence of President Putin. The next day Shcharansky was returning home, but at the Moscow airport he received a call from the Kremlin: the president invites him to dine with him in an hour. Shcharansky barely managed to reach the Kremlin and change clothes; he stopped at a barber shop located in the house on the embankment and there in the rest room put on a suit from his suitcase.
The dinner lasted an hour and a half. Shcharansky described this unexpected audience with the president of Russia to a Jerusalem correspondent of the Washington Post. Shcharansky said that Putin did not mince words, speaking of his profound sympathy for Israel, his aversion to antisemitism, and of the great role played by Jews in Russia and the Jewish diaspora in the world.
Evidently the head of the Russian state really is aware of how influential a force is world Jewry and he decided to enlist its sympathies. In doing so Putin did not restrict himself to matters of high politics. He found time to talk about how well his family's vacation in Israel went, he gave his Israeli guest a tour of the Kremlin, and he expressed his curiosity regarding Jewish food restrictions. After Shcharansky refused one meat dish after the other, which had been prepared in the Kremlin kitchen, Putin thoughtfully specified: "Is chicken prohibited for you?"
The meeting with Shcharansky led the president to recollect about his
neighbors in the communal apartment, a Jewish couple who became virtual
family for him. Indeed, even Shcharansky is not unknown to Vladimir Putin;
in the end it was he as director of FSB who informed Shcharansky about
the materials of his case. Perhaps this is even why he invited him, in
order to have personal contact almost like a relative. "He said that
he had a hard time in KGB because of his sympathies for the Jews," Shcharansky
reported. There may be no doubt that he understood the Russian president
better than anyone: Shcharansky also had a hard time in KGB because
of his struggle for Jewish rights. (tr. by PDS, posted 10 October
2000)
The "pogrom" itself was almost invisible, but those who organized it possibly had two long-range goals
by Irina Sizova
Nezavisimaia gazeta, 4 October 2000
On 17 September at 2:30 in the afternoon about ten young people broke into the foyer of a building where classes of a Jewish Sunday school was being held. They behaved in a threatening manner, broke glass, tore a display of children's drawings from the wall, and destroyed a telephone, but they did not enter the classroom where the children were. The children, of course, were frightened although they never encountered the youth in black. The leader of the Jewish congregation, Leonid Reznikov, called police, who arrived in fifteen minutes. In the police log the following note appeared: "17 September from Reznikov, chairman of the Riazan Jewish congregation, came report that at 2:30 in the afternoon in the foyer of public school no. 3, where classes of the Jewish Sunday school were going on, a hooligan action was conducted: glass, the school sign, and a telephone in the entry were broken." In the evening of the same day someone attacked the director of the evening school where the Sunday school leases premises, "so that he would not rent the premises to Jews," in Leonid Reznikov's opinion.
The next day, Sunday, Leonid Semonovich sent a statement to the district procuracy and reported the incident to the media of the capital. A criminal case based on the "Hooliganism" article was opened.
I learned about the incidents at the Jewish Sunday school in Riazan from an article in the newspaper "Kommersant" almost a week after the event (the 23 September issue) and from information on NTV. Leonid Reznikov insists that by no means was everything in the Kommersant article true. Incidentally, even the local media gave attention to the event only ten days afterward (27-28 September) and 4-5 days after the publication in Kommersant.
In Riazan the city has acquired the label of a place where antisemitism is flourishing. It is hardly deserved. Today everyone is looking to the past to find the roots of today's problems. Riazan was not within the pale of Jewish settlement, but approximately 2,000 Jews have always lived in the city. Throughout the twentieth century this figure remained virtually unchanged. Now it is remembered that the first and only Jewish pogrom occurred in the city in 1905. But back in the nineteenth century Riazan merchants appealed several times to the city authorities with the request that Jews be removed from the city, which the business community pushed hard for.
The Jewish congregation as a purely religious organization appeared in Riazan in 1993 and in 1995 it organized the Sunday school which has rented various premises over the past five years. About 35-40 children study in it. Another Jewish congregation was formed in Kasimov. This year the Riazan Jewish congregation was given an old synagogue building, or strictly speaking a prayer building, in which previously a design institute had been located. The Jewish congregation is not the only organization in Riazan that is nationality based; there are Armenian, Azerbaijaini, Ukrainian, and Germany societies. In the past year they joined in a district organization of the Assembly of Peoples of Russia, which still does not have its own premises but conducts cultural and charitable events rather regularly.
Russian nationalistic organizations also have arisen in Riazan in the past few years, including well known local sections of the Russian Party, Russian Brotherhood, and Russian National Unity (RNE). Despite their obnoxious reputation, none of these organizations officially proclaims antisemitism and the incitement of enmity among nationalities as their goals, and thus the Ministry of Justice has no basis for refusing them registration. A year and a half ago the rumor spread through Riazan that a general Russian congress of RNE would be held here. The vague discontent of the public nevertheless frightened the organizers at the last minute, and besides facilities for the congress were not found in the city.
As the new leader of the Riazan administration of FSB, General Dukanov, declared this summer at his first press conference, organizations of a nationalistic character are constantly under the attention of law enforcement agencies and no illegal actions on their part have been observed.
In his turn, Mr. Reznikov thinks that the appearance in the city of RNE leaflets and publications of a nationalistic and antisemitic character directly incite conflict among nationalities. Antisemitic leaflets in substantial quantity showed up in the city last December, on the eve of State Duma elections, and they "brushed with the same color" Ziuganov, Primakov, Nemtsov, and Yavlinsky, uniting these political figures under a nationality known to the authors. These leaflets were plastered with special care around the microdistrict of the Gorroshch oil factory. Judging by the election results, the leaflets did not have much effect on the electorate; the communists, "Fatherland," and the democrats received the usual number of votes for Riazan.
Newspapers in which materials of an antisemitic and nationalist stripe are not rare are produced and distributed in Riazan. It is possible to buy them on Victory Square in the same booth where one can get communist ones, which is puzzling. The number of them that are printed is such that by law they need not be registered. At least one "strange coincidence" is interesting: today antisemitic statements are not being shunned by the very first democratic newspaper of Riazan, and a former editor of the province's communist newspaper is editing and publishing another paper of the very same type in an edition of 2,000 copies.
Riazan is a typical city of the Russian provinces in which barely half of the population falls into the category of the poor, unemployment is well above the official figure, and the aging of the population exceeds the Russia-wide level. In-migration from outside Russia into the province could not replace the decrease in the population because of the very low birth rate. But it has already led to a change in the ethnic composition of the population. According to the assessment of specialists, approximately five percent of the residents of the province are non-Russian. Is this large or small? For a Riazan which in the past was almost entirely Russian, this is a rather substantial number, the more so since the migrants have settled in the provincial capital and the number of temporarily registered residents who came to the city in search of work exceeds the number of long-term residents. Riazan, fortunately, has avoided conflicts on nationalistic bases, but this does not mean that there are no fits of xenophobia and antisemitism among people of Riazan. It is difficult to eradicate these phenomena at the level of daily life. But the ordinary dislike of representatives of other nationalities rarely develops into pogroms.
Today the newspapers are accusing the local authorities of practically organizing the pogrom described above. It is difficult to imagine a more absurd accusation. Of course, it is possible that someone is behind those uncontrolled youths in black without identifying symbols. It could hardly be that the idea for their actions arose spontaneously among them. But no one has taken responsibility for it, not even the notorious RNE. In the course of the investigation only one of the participants in the pogrom was identified, but he could not be found at his place of residence. He is being sought.
The dubious "service" of the authorities, provincial and city, in this situation comes down to the fact that it again was late: with commentaries, with actions, with political conclusions. The factor of the presence in the province of several thousand representatives of nationalities and peoples of the former USSR cannot be overlooked. It is necessary to conduct persistent constructive dialogue with them. Perhaps it would be a good idea to work out and sign with representatives of the diasporas a document regarding concord among nationalities in the province, which has been done in a number of regions of Russia. Although for the sake of justice it should be noted that an agreement on public concord, proposed a couple of years back for signing by the current governor, V. Liubimov, was rejected by both the Riazan communists and a majority of Riazan democrats.
Who could be behind the pogrom in the Jewish school? So far it is possible only to devise suggestions based on the political situation in the region. The issue is that in December there will come up rather boring and predictable gubernatorial elections in Riazan. The main figures are known even too well. There is little likelihood that it would be possible to break up the situation from within by engaging in the rather notorious devices of a war of scandals. One can hardly expect the arrival from Moscow of Varangians with big money and big ambitions. It is necessary somehow to enliven the monotonous pre-election landscape. Why not a little "Jewish pogrom"? Is that cynical? Of course. But that's what morals are like nowadays. It is no accident that it was the probable candidates for governor who commented on the situation before all others and with obvious satisfaction. And the Jewish congregation, whose informal influence on the mood of society is beyond question, intends to find among the candidates the one who is most tolerant.
There is also another very sensitive situation about which one would prefer to remain silent for now. In the province rather great influence is enjoyed by the Tiumen Petroleum Company (TNK). Its president, Semen Kukes, never tires of reminding reporters of at least two things. First, TNK has no political interests in the province. Second, TNK has never had better relations with any previous administrations than it has with the current one. Thus, the second proposition completely excludes the first. But this is the diplomacy and particular politics of TNK in the region. Recently the company managed to draw foreign credit to the Riazan NPZ that exceeded the district budget. At a time that puts Viacheslav Liubimov, who aspires to a second term as governor, at odds with Semen Kukes. Support, even simply moral support, from TNK is now in favor and is worth a lot. Perhaps the uproar over the Jewish school was not organized, but it is simply being used, as is now being done in the press, from Moscow to the outer limits. After all this also does not prevent TNK's support for other probable candidates. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 October 2000)
POGROM IN RYAZAN, RUSSIA
Jewish Sunday School Attacked by Neo-Nazis
Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, 21 September 2000
Washington, DC-- A Jewish Sunday school in the Russian city of Ryazan was attacked by 15 neo-Nazi thugs armed with metal chains, who burst into the school, smashed windows, furniture and an art exhibit made by the children, and shouted death threats and fascist slogans at the 25 Jewish children studying there last Sunday, September 17. Terrified children and teachers fled the school and escaped injury. The Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ) received this information today from the Ryazan-based human rights NGO "Memorial," a participant in a joint Moscow Helsinki Group and UCSJ regional human rights monitoring project funded by USAID. Police arrived at the scene, but so far no arrests have been made.
UCSJ is in touch with both "Memorial" and the local Jewish community and today sent a letter to the mayor of Ryazan, calling for an immediate investigation into the attack and a crack down on neo-Nazi groups in the city.
"Today, we feel shame and hurt on behalf of our home town," said Andrey Blinushov, Chairman of the Ryazan chapter of "Memorial." "Once again, as it was 50 years ago, fascist scum, having taken up arms, have let loose a pogrom."
"Our organization has several times expressed our concern at the inactivity of the local prosecutors, Department of Internal Affairs and the local FSB in regard to nationalistic and fascist gangs who incite ethnic hatred in the city of Ryazan with impunity," Mr. Blinushov added. "In addition, over the past three years, some of our local media has inflated the themes of 'the uniqueness of the Russian people,' 'Zionist violence' and similar topics. Some media sources have published blatant insults and calls for violent actions against members of various ethnic groups_ 'Memorial' calls upon the city's law enforcement authorities to take urgent steps towards the arrest of the pogromists and bringing them to justice."
The head of the local Jewish community, Leonid Reznikov, issued a statement calling on the authorities to take immediate action and thanking the teachers at the Sunday school for their "selfless actions" to save the children from injury. Mr. Reznikov said that the students, who range from 6-13 years old, have suffered "serious psychological trauma" and some of them received "immediate psychological treatment to take them out of their stressful state."
FASCISTS KEEP UP PRESSURE ON RYAZAN JEWS
Jewish Sunday School Shut Down After Principal Beaten
UPDATE ON EARLIER RELEASE
Washington, DC-- Three days after 15 neo-Nazi thugs launched a pogrom in a Jewish Sunday school in the Russian city of Ryazan (see today's earlier UCSJ press release), the director of the Sunday school was told that classes for Jewish children could no longer be held on the premises, according to information received today by Chicago Action for Jews in the former Soviet Union, an affiliate of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ). The Sunday school director informed Chicago Action that the principal of the public school, where the Jewish community was renting a room to use for Sunday classes, was attacked by two fascist youths the day after the pogrom, and made the decision to no longer rent a room to the Jewish Sunday school out of fear for her life. The local Jewish community of 1,200 does not have a synagogue.
As the principal was making her way home on Monday, September 18, a car drove onto the sidewalk near her home and knocked her down. Two young neo-Nazis jumped out of the car and proceeded to beat her on the legs, all the while asking her why she "deals with Jews."
The same day, the director of the Jewish Sunday school spotted two neo-Nazis hanging out near her home. She immediately called the police, but by the time they showed up, the young fascists were gone.
"Although an investigation into Sunday's pogrom was started by the police, no arrests have been made so far in connection with any of these incidents," said Micah H. Naftalin, UCSJ's National Director. "Now the Sunday school, where 40 local children have benefited from a wonderful program of Jewish education, is faced with renting a room in a commercial building, which would be at least 15 times more expensive than their previous arrangement with the public school. In effect, the principal's decision hands a victory to the dark forces that continually strive to extinguish Jewish life in Russia. We have sent a letter to the local authorities demanding that they protect the Ryazan Jewish community by arresting the pogromists, cracking down on local hate groups, and providing the Sunday school program with police protection, so that they can renew their agreement with the local public school. As long as those thugs are out on the street, more violence is almost guaranteed." (posted 9 October 2000)
by Elena Tsivileva
Nezavisimaia gazeta, 6 October 2000
"The recreation of the church of Christ the Savior, a symbol of Orthodox Russia, is finally complete." With these words mayor of Moscow Yury Luzhkov opened a festive meeting of construction workers of the church which was held yesterday in the Hall of Church Councils. Luzhkov emphasized that the construction was begun not only by decision of Alexis II and a decree of the president of the Russian federation, but also by the will of the believing people: "The restoration of the destroyed shrine will help to regenerate Orthodoxy and spirituality in Russia."
"The church of Christ the Savior was definitely recreated and not built. The plans of its recreation were worked out by the Moscow patriarchate on the basis of documents regarding the original appearance of the church. At the time the work was being done, Alexis II himself climbed up the scaffolding like an ordinary worker. Besides historical accuracy, the workers faced another no less important task with which they dealt perfectly, namely building a contemporary object in which conferences and meetings could be held comfortably," Yury Luzhkov said.
The festive gathering ended with an awards ceremony; many construction workers received the order of Sergius of Radonezh and the medal of Daniil of Moscow "for contribution to the restoration of the church of Christ the Savior." (tr. by PDS, posted 6 October 2000)
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