Dr. Alexandr Nemets
Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2002

Moscow Plans Regarding 'Former Russian Jews'

Does anybody know how many people of Jewish origin from the USSR now live in the U.S. and Canada? Hundreds and hundreds of thousands.

Thousands of them became prosperous businessmen, many tens of thousands are highly qualified professionals in programming, other high-tech areas, and universities and colleges. Remarkably, almost all these people are using Russian as a second language; they read Russian books and locally published Russian newspapers and magazines, and watch Russian-language TV channels. And they are still interested in what is happening in Russia and other former Soviet republics.

By the mid-1990s, smart Moscow politicians decided to use this situation to get all the possible benefits – financial and otherwise. In 1996-97, the New York-based paper "Novoye Russkoye Slovo" (New Russian Word) – at that time, the most popular Russian-language periodical in North America – proposed and actively promoted the idea of establishing a "U.S. Russian-language community." Novoye Russkoye Slovo used to claim that a well-organized community of this kind would enrich the cultural life of the people from the USSR in America; their legal and material gains would also be substantial. The paper appealed to all Russian immigrants in the U.S., but people of Jewish origin have been the major target of this campaign.

In reality, the Kremlin was behind the campaign. It was supposed that Moscow would establish informal though effective control over the newly emerged – and vertically organized – Russian-language community and, as a result,

1. get broad access to vast new financial resources;

2. get access to U.S. technological resources, including military high-tech;

3. transform the Russian-language community into an obedient tool of Moscow in America.

New Attack

After the Putin regime came to power in 1999, however, the Kremlin resumed its attempts to establish control over Russian immigrants in the West, primarily those of Jewish origin in the U.S. and Canada. Now the Kremlin acted much more intelligently, utilizing KGB/FSB facilities and technologies. In 2000-2001, the Kremlin, the FSB and their "intellectual agents" organized several so-called "world congresses of Russian-language media" and "world congresses of Russian-language people abroad" in Kiev, New York, etc. In particular, efforts are concentrated on transforming the leading Russian-language publications abroad into pro-Moscow ones.

In the beginning of July 2002, the World Congress of Russian-language Jews took place in Moscow. A detailed, critical description of this congress was given in the article by Vladimir Yedidovich (founder and Editor Emeritus of the Russian-language New York-based Forwerts paper), "Two Congresses – Two Parties." (Forwerts, August 2002, p. 7)

The major theses are as follows:

This congress doesn't defend the economic, political and cultural interests of Jews from the USSR. The real goal of this congress was to establish the World Union of Russian-Language Jews under the leadership and control of Russian special services (FSB/KGB).

If this goal is reached, the Kremlin will gain the following opportunities:

• creating financial, economic and political "strongholds" among "Russian Jews" all over the world;

• convincing some of these Jews – the most "valuable" ones – to return to Russia.

Putin himself supports it and provides it with handsome financing. In particular, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs finances the establishment of numerous "Russian-language clubs" abroad. (end of "Forwerts" article quotation)

In mid-October 2002, the well-informed Moscow-based Versiya weekly published the article "Moscow Invests Millions [of dollars] into Assistance to Russian Compatriots Abroad." It appears that the government of Moscow (ruled by Mayor Yury Luzhkov) assigned about $4 million in 2001 and will assign about $15 million in 2002 for all kinds of assistance to ethnic Russians and "Russian-language ones" in the former Soviet republics and abroad.

A significant part of this money is being used to establish a "united information [media] system supporting interaction of Moscow with all the strata of the Russian Diaspora." Mayor Luzhkov himself claims that Moscow's investment would bring huge dividends in the form of money flowing from Russians (and "Russian Jews") abroad back to Moscow – just as "huaqiao" all over the world invest in China, thus accelerating its development.

It is understandable that the Kremlin and KGB use this channel and many similar channels to put an "iron grip" on ethnic Russians and "Russian-language Jews" all over the world, including these in America.

Anti-Semitism in Russia

(This item is based mostly on an article by Vladimir Yedidovich, "Red-brown Swamp," in Forwerts, Oct. 11-17, 2002, p. 7.)

The propaganda machine of the Putin regime claims that "there is no anti-Semitism – neither private nor state-sponsored – in Russia." Such claims should be considered with genuine impunity; however, this is normal New Russian style.

Interestingly, Moscow managed to mobilize some local Jewish leaders, including the Kremlin-approved Chief Rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar, for these propaganda purposes. This event is a dramatic reminder of some of the Jewish-oriented campaigns of the Stalin epoch of 1949.

At the beginning of October 2002, the Russian Ministry of Justice officially registered the "National-State Party of Russia." Its leaders – some of them until recently occupying high-ranking official positions – openly stated:

"Our goal is power. We don't hide the fact that a party of nationalists will come to power. … We should throw both democracy and Jews out of Russia."

It is a party of the Nazi kind, which united already existing Russian Nazis. Russia is sinking into a Nazi swamp. And authorities are taking no measures to stop them. On March 3, 2000, Forwerts magazine commented on the rapid rise of Putin as "we observe a bloodless state coup: KGB returned to power." From this moment, Russia has moved step-by-step toward Nazi dictatorship. Specifically:

• Many high-ranking KGB functionaries have been appointed to top-ranking administrative posts.

• The more or less independent media – papers, TV channels, radio stations – have been oppressed.

• Various fascist organizations are flourishing under the "patronage" of the Kremlin and State Duma; their members are marching over Russian cities, in uniforms decorated with neo-Nazi symbols.

• More than 150 neo-Nazi papers are published all over Russia; fascist and anti-Semitic books are published and spread without restraint.

• The State Duma itself demonstratively refused to honor the memory of Holocaust victims.

The spread of the neo-Nazi movement combined with "No anti-Semitism!" assurances formed the perfect environment for real anti-Semitism to flourish in Russia. And the newly registered National-State Party of Russia became a "pinnacle" of Russia's deeply rooted and broadly spread neo-Nazi system.

Remarkably, anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi sentiments are predominantly among the officers of the Russian army, Interior Ministry (police) and FSB. Among the 11,000 National-State Party members, 7,000 are acting or former officers. This makes the new party and the entire Nazi movement in Russia very dangerous.

So, what forces are behind the new party and Nazi movement?

• Top executives of FSB who secretly blessed National-State Party registration. Putin himself definitely shares their approach.

• New Russian top businessmen, who tolerate no controls or limitations of their incomes and fortunes, mostly of the criminal kind.

• Broad layers of marginal elements who emerged after the destruction of the USSR.

Dr. Alexandr V. Nemets is co-author of "Chinese-Russian Military Relations, Fate of Taiwan and New Geopolitics."

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