FJC Demands Investigation into Moscow Anti-Semitism

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FJCR) has expressed outrage over anti-Semitic graffiti painted on buildings in downtown Moscow. The graffiti imitate leaflets one could see in the streets of Kyiv ahead of mass killings of Jews at Babi Yar during the Nazi occupation of the city, FJCR’s press service has told Interfax.

One anti-Semitic poster says: “All Jews of Moscow and representatives of ethnic diasporas must come to the corner of Ostozhenka and Lopukhinsky Pereulok… with their documents, valuables and a two-day food kit”.

“What makes the above action especially cynical is that it came on the on the 70th anniversary of the Babi Yar tragedy when more than 33,000 Jews were shot dead by Nazis on September 29, 1941. Between 70,000 and 200,000 representatives of various nationalities were shot at Babi Yar from 1941 to 1943, according to various estimates, the majority of them being the Jewish population of Kyiv. Only 29 people managed to escape the Babi Yar massacre,” the FJCR press service said.

FJCR asked the Prosecutor General’s Office to look into the incident.

From the point of view of the Jewish community, the wording of the above graffiti is extremist and falls under Article 1 of the federal law On Countering Extremism, FJCR said in an official letter to Prosecutor General Yury Chaika.

The above action has elements of offense envisaged in Article 282 of the Criminal Code “the instigation of hatred or enmity and the humiliation of human dignity,” the letter, signed by FJCR Chairman Alexander Boroda, says.

FRCR demands criminal punishment for those involved in the action.