Vladimir Zhirinovsky (pronounced Jheer-in-ov-ski) has been the leader of a political party in Russia that spreads hatred toward Jews and other minorities. He regularly blames Jews for Russia's economic hardships, repeating the anti-Semitic lie that the world's largest banks and corporations "are ruled by Jews."

The world's third-largest Jewish community lives in Russia, a country that endured 70 years of Communist oppression as part of the Soviet Union. Under the tyranny of communism, Jews were not allowed to practice Judaism freely, nor were they allowed to emigrate. When the Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1991, many Jews fled to Israel or America. Many of those who stayed behind began rebuilding meaningful Jewish lives.

Managing the transition from communism to democracy challenged Russia's new democratic leaders. As social turmoil increased, Russians looked for scapegoats, for people to blame. Unfortunately, Jews and other ethnic and religious minorities were easy targets for demagogues, who preached hatred of anyone different from themselves.

ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE STREETS

When Vladimir Putin was elected the second president of Russia in 2000, he pledged to fight racism and anti-Semitism. While religious freedoms for Jews have increased, so has violence against Jews and Jewish property. Putin has done little to crack down on anti-Semites or the newspapers that spread their message of hate. Few people have been arrested for crimes against Jews and Putin has done little to enforce Article 282 of the Criminal Code, which makes it illegal to publish hate literature. Because of this, some political analysts are questioning Putin's sincerity as a democratic reformer.

ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE DUMA

The unchecked anti-Semitism of many newspapers has also found its way into the Duma- Russia's lower house of parliament- and there are many Duma members who are part of Putin's new ruling coalition who have perpetuated negative stereotypes about Jews. Since December 2003, Putin and his allies control a super-majority of the Duma, which means that they can pass any laws or even change the Russian constitution as they see fit.

When Russians go to the polls on March 14 to elect a president for another four years, President Putin is expected to win. With his tight control of both the Kremlin and the Duma, Russia has the opportunity to pass and implement laws to protect Jews and other minorities. Jews and others of good conscience around the world will be watching to see if Putin will use his new powers to promote democratic values or listen to the anti-Semites in his Duma coalition.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Over the past 130 years when Jews in Russia faced serious threats, the American Jewish community rallied to their defense. Jewish students and others successfully urged members of Congress and the president to confront Russian leaders on their mistreatment of Jews. As a result, more than a million Russian Jews were allowed to leave Russia.

Here on www.babaganewz.com you can find an action plan that describes how you can alert your school, congregation, and community about developments in Russia and how they affect Russian Jews.