The Moscow Times– The Moscow Helsinki Group, Russia’s oldest human rights organization, on Thursday became the latest NGO inspected in a massive government campaign that has hit hundreds of non-state groups in 25 regions and is unprecedented in post-Soviet Russia, a rights leader said. Prosecutors and Justice Ministry officials on Thursday showed up at the headquarters of the Moscow Helsinki Group, where they asked the organization’s veteran leader, 85-year-old [...]
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Two Russian Jewish Lawmakers to Resign Due to Israeli Citizenship
JTA– Russia’s upper house has approved the resignation of a two Jewish lawmakers who stepped down last week amid accusations that one of them hid his Israeli citizenship. Senator Vitaly Malkin, 60, handed in his resignation on Tuesday amid accusations that he has failed to give up his Israeli citizenship as Russian lawmakers are legally [...]
Disputed Schneerson Library to Move to Jewish Museum in Moscow
JTA – Russia plans to move Jewish texts claimed by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement to Moscow’s newly opened Jewish museum next month. Russian Deputy Culture Minister Grigory Ivliyev told the Interfax news agency on Wednesday that the disputed Schneerson library will be moved to the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center. “We will start moving the books [...]
Russian Oligarch and Critic of Putin Dies
The NY Times reports that Russian oligarch Boris A. Berezovsky died this past Saturday at his home outside of London. Berezovsky was once the richest and most powerful oligarch in post-Soviet Russia. He initially helped orchestrate Putin’s rise to power, but later became a target of Putin, along with a number of other rich and [...]
Cossack Revival in Russia
From the NY Times– STAVROPOL, Russia — Outside this city’s police headquarters on a recent night, a priest in a purple velvet hat and gold stole moved from one man to the next, offering a cross to be kissed and drenching their faces with holy water from a long brush. And so began another night [...]
Lautenberg Amendment, Originally for Soviet Jews, Serves as Lifeline to Iranian Religious Minorities
(JTA) – When the Lautenberg Amendment was introduced in 1990, it provided a mechanism for hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews to exit their crumbling country and immigrate to freedom in the United States. Since 2004, it has served as a lifeline for religious minorities fleeing the Islamic theocracy of Iran. The amendment, named for [...]
Arson Suspected at Jewish Community Center in Central Russia
(JTA) — A Jewish community center in Perm, a city in central Russia, sustained minor damage in what police suspect was attempted arson with fire bombs. Firefighters in Perm, a municipality located on the banks of the Kama River near the Ural Mountains, put out a small fire inside the center on Saturday, the government-owned [...]
UCSJ Update: Our Discussion with Luidmilla Alexeeva
MARCH 11, 2013 On March 2, 2013, UCSJ President Larry Lerner and International Director Leonid Stonov had an hour long Skype discussion with the Chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG), Luidmilla Alexeeva. Alexeeva is a long-term partner of UCSJ. She arrived in the US on March 1, 2013, after being invited by Senator Benjamin [...]
On 60th Anniversary of Stalin’s Death, He Remains Admired
MOSCOW (AP) — Devotees of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, whose brutal purges killed millions of innocent citizens and made his name a byword for totalitarian terror, flocked to the Kremlin to praise him for making his country a world power Tuesday, while experts and politicians puzzled and despaired over his enduring popularity. Communist Party chief [...]
Chabad Rejects Proposal from Putin to Put Chabad Collection in Russian Jewish Museum
JTA– Chabad rejected a proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin that a disputed collection of books and documents be kept at a Jewish museum in Moscow. The New York-based religious movement, responding Thursday to the suggestion floated by Putin earlier this week, insisted that Russian authorities immediately hand over the so-called Chabad Library. “The collection [...]
