MOSCOW — Russia’s prime minister this week condemned the recent rise in anti-Semitism in Russia, promising to press for new hate crimes legislation to combat the growing scourge.
Yevgeny Primakov’s statements here to Anti-Defamation League and the Russian Jewish Congress officials came after a separate meeting Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu, who urged Russian Jews to make aliyah in the wake of growing anti-Semitism, was in Moscow as part of a two-day trip to Russia, Ukraine and Georgia.
According to ADL and RJC Jewish officials who also met with Primakov, the premier referred specifically to Albert Makashov, a hard-line Communist lawmaker who has made several anti-Semitic statements during the past several months.
“I believe Makashov has to be condemned fair and square and unambiguously for his pronouncements in an open and undisguised way,” Primakov reportedly told the Jewish officials.
During Primakov and Netanyahu’s meetings, the two countries agreed to cooperate to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, particularly Iran.
“Primakov has a real interest in resolving this problem of the leaking of non-conventional weapons technology. He sees Iran’s arming itself as a danger and said that Russia has no intention of committing suicide,” Netanyahu said in a briefing after his meetings with Primakov.
Primakov, at a joint press conference with Netanyahu, while acknowledging the initiative, did not even admit there is a problem, saying that Russia “adheres to the international regulations” regarding technology transfers.
The United States and Israel have repeatedly criticized the transfer of Russian missile and nuclear technology to Iran. Indeed, the United States has recently announced sanctions against 10 Russian scientific institutes that it says are involved in helping Tehran develop its military program.
The two leaders also reached an agreement aimed to boost bilateral trade relations.
“Relations between Israel and Russia are excellent,” Netanyahu said after the meeting. Netanyahu added that he would like to see bilateral trade “double, triple or quadruple,” adding that combining Russia’s industrial capacity with Israel’s high-tech expertise could benefit both countries.
During the meeting with ADL and RJC leaders, Primakov said that he wants the Jewish community to feel comfortable and remain in Russia.
Many other top Kremlin officials, including Russian President Boris Yeltsin, have spoken out against anti-Semitism in recent months, but Primakov had been criticized for his silence.
His comment were particularly important because they came on the eve of a planned trip to Washington to meet with President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. The Russian premier canceled the trip Tuesday, apparently due to the worsening crisis in Kosovo.
The Jewish leaders said that Primakov discussed a new piece of legislation that would intensify Russia’s campaign against anti-Semitism, which has risen sharply since the collapse of the Russian economy last summer.
Netanyahu denied speculations in the Israeli and Russian press that his trip to the former Soviet Union was aimed at courting the votes of the nearly 1 million former Soviet Jews in Israel.
Russian Jews should respond to growing anti-Semitism in the country by making aliyah, Netanyahu said during a visit Sunday to Moscow’s Choral Synagogue.
“I say it openly,” Netanyahu told hundreds of Moscow Jews who came to greet him at the synagogue. “I want to see you in Israel.”
Russian Chief Rabbi Adolph Shayevich reacted to Netanyahu’s remarks by saying he welcomed aliyah, but as a result of the “call of one’s heart” — and not because of fear for one’s safety in Russia.
About 3,300 Jews left Russia in the first two months of this year as compared with 1,600 in the same period last year, according to the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Moscow office.
Shayevich and Moscow Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt also urged Israeli leadership to fight a common prejudice among some Israelis who consider Russian immigrants “second-rate Jews.”
Before visiting Moscow, Netanyahu held trade talks with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and visited Babi Yar, where nearly 100,000 Jews were massacred during World War II.
Netanyahu also traveled to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, where he met with Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze to discuss diplomatic and trade relations between Israel and the small former Soviet republic as well as possible Israeli investment in Georgia’s energy sector.