At last a Jewish leader from the FSU,--Alexander Mashkevich of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress--with humanistic values. In an interview he did with me that will appear this week or next in the Jewish Week, Mashkevich condemned the Putin government for promoting xenophobia against minorities--today Georgians and Azeris--tomorrow maybe Jews--and says American Jewry should be aware of what is going on in Russia. He condemns Avigdor Lieberman's insistence that Israel and the West are in a "War of Civilizations" against Islam and calling for more dialogues between Jews and Muslims of the kind he sponsored in Kazakhstan under the aegis of his patron, President Nazerbayev, whom, he noted, doesn't allow explicitely anti-Semitic tracts to be sold in the streets of Astana and Alma-Ata, as they are in Moscow and Kiev. Finally, Mashkevich praised the hard work of Chabad-Lubavitch in the FSU, but called for Jewish life in which no group (read Chabad) has a "monopoly", and where all streams of Jewry are welcome, including Reform. Mashkevich, said to be worth $2 billion was warmly received at the UJA-Federation Russian Division dinner last Sunday and Mark Levin of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry agreed with his assesment of what is happening in Russia and said he is an important leader who is not to be underestimated. Please read the text of my piece after the jump
By Walter Ruby
One of the most prominent Jews in the former Soviet Union has accused the regime of President Vladimir Putin of contributing to xenophobia against minority groups in Russia and thereby endangering Jews in that country.
Alexander Mashkevich, president of the Kazakhstan-based Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC), a regional body affiliated with the World Jewish Congress with representation from all the Jewish communities of the former Soviet Union, as well as those of such countries as Poland, Bulgaria, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and India, said in an interview; “There is a powerful wave of nationalism and xenophobia in Russia and the regime (of President Putin) is part of the problem, not part of the solution. If the Russian government is kicking Georgians and Azeris out of the country today, what might happen to other minorities tomorrow? (hundreds of Georgians were expelled from Moscow last year, apparently in retaliation for actions by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili that Russia considered unfriendly).” Mashkevich stated, “We must speak out now—not only against anti-Semitism, which we carefully monitor in all the countries of the FSU, but against nationalism and xenophobia in general, in order to prevent the situation from deteriorating further.” Mashkevich said he is “determined to share (his) concern about rising xenophobia in Russia with the American Jewish community and the U.S. government.”
Mashkevich, 53, was in New York to receive the first–ever Global Leadership Award at the UJA-Federation Russian Division Annual Gala. Feted at the March 25 event by the likes of Sen. Charles Schumer, UJA-Federation executive vice president John Ruskay, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations executive vice president Malcolm Hoenlein, and Rabbi Arthur Schneier of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, The Russian Division event, which raised $500,000 for the UJA-Federation annual campaign, also honored Gene Rachmansky, a Manhattan attorney who was one of the founders of the Russian Division’s Young Leadership group.
An academic in Kyrgyzstan in Soviet times who went into the business world in the late 1980’s and eventually became one of the three co-owners of Eurasia Group, a Kazakhstan-based company with interests in aluminum, chromium, coal, construction and banking, Mashkevich is worth an estimated $2 billion, according to the 2006 Forbes survey of the world’s billionaires. A close confidante of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazerbayev, Mashkevich also holds Israeli citizenship, and spends much of his time airborne between Israel, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and other countries where he has either business interests or involvement in Jewish life.
A tall balding man with a mustache and an affable and unpretentious manner, Mashkevich confirmed his reputation during the interview as perhaps the most liberal of the Russian-Jewish oligarchs on a variety of religious and political issues. Mashkevich, who has sponsored several high-level Muslim-Jewish dialogues in the Kazakh capital of Astana under the patronage of President Nazerbayev, a Muslim, said he “totally disagrees” with what he characterized as the position of Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman that “Israel and the West are in a ‘War of Civilizations’ with the Islamic world. I oppose that way of looking at the world because I believe it only plays into the hands of a small group of Islamic radicals. In reality those radicals are unrepresentative of the majority of Muslims, who have nothing against the Jews or the West. So we need to do much more to further dialogue between Jews and Muslims.”
Since its founding in 2003, EAJC has had an uneasy relationship with the Federation of Russian Jewry (FEOR), a Chabad-Lubavitch-affiliated body which is the most powerful Jewish umbrella organization in Russia and whose leading figure, Rabbi Berel Lazar, is recognized by the Putin government as Russia’s chief rabbi. Mashkevich said that while he “is very grateful for the magnificent work Chabad does all over the FSU, I oppose a monopoly on Judaism by Chabad or any other group. I think all trends within Judaism should have freedom to flourish in the FSU, including the Reform movement.”
While not directly criticizing FEOR and another umbrella body, the Russian Jewish Congress (RJC), for being generally supportive of the policies of the Putin government, Mashkevich suggested that they, unlike the EAJC, have been intimidated from taking assertive stands against the government of Russia when it moved in directions inimical to Jewish interests. “The EAJC can say things that FEOR cannot, because they live in Russia, whereas I am in Kazakhstan. For example, we strongly supported Israel in last summer’s Lebanon war, but FEOR and RJC were unable to do so. They always have to remember where they are living.”
Asked about a speech Putin made last month in Munich in which he denounced the United States for allegedly seeking to “establish a unipolar world” under its hegemony, Mashkevich said, “It is well known that Russia is striving these days to become world center of gravity. In my view, all major partners in the world should respect each other.” For his part, Machkevitch believes; “The role the United States and American Jewry have played in rebuilding FSU Jewry has been immense. We will never be able to repay the support we got from UJA-Federation and other American Jewish organizations going back to Soviet times. Nevertheless, today, when Jews in the FSU have more resources, we seek to build a more equal partnership with American and world Jewry than existed before.”
Mashkevich said that the EAJC operates from the principle that “Happy Jewish communities only exist in happy countries. Therefore, we stand up for the rights of all citizens, including Jews and fight all forms of xenophobia, not only anti-Semitism.” Noting that, “In Moscow and Kiev, it is possible to buy the most aggressive forms of anti-Semitic literature,” Mashkevich said, “That should not be permitted and, in fact, is not permitted in Kazakhstan, where all forms of ethnic incitement are prohibited.”
Mashkevich seemed more concerned about the rise of ultra-nationalism and xenophobia in Russia and other FSU countries than about infringements on democracy in those countries; perhaps unsurprisingly given that his own patron, Nazerbayev, is widely considered to be an authoritarian figure, who has been accused by groups like Human Rights Watch of holding flawed elections and arbitrarily jailing and sometimes torturing opposition figures. Asked about this, Mashkevich smiled broadly and said in an ironic tone that “Kazakhstan is the most democratic of the so-called ‘Oriental democracies’; a reference to the states of former Soviet Central Asia.
Mashkevich was warmly praised during the UJA-Federation dinner by Hoenlein, who called the EAJC leader “a friend and partner with whom we have worked on behalf of the Jews of many lands. (Mashkevich) turned the reversal of the Iron Curtain to the benefit of Jewish community.” Mark Levin, executive director of NCSJ (formerly the National Conference on Soviet Jewry), said of Mashkevich; “He is a visible and vocal advocate on behalf of Jewish populations throughout the FSU and a promoter of greater tolerance and understanding among different religious and ethnic groups.”
Levin added, “We certainly share Mashkevich’s concerns about the rise of nationalism and xenophobia in Russia.” Levin said his group has been assured by Russian government officials that they oppose trends toward ultra-nationalism, but added, “We want to see more concrete actions by the government; a combination of law enforcement and education. Right now the Russian government has a very serious problem.”
Continued...
