Jewish Week piece on Mashkevich+ full text of reaction from Russian consulate

Please see here< my Jewish Week article on Mashkevich, which unlike the story I posted yesterday contains a reaction from a spokesman from the Russian consulate in NY. I am however, posting after the break, the full statement from the spokesman, which, unlike the Jewish Week piece, includes a citation of Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, head of FEOR and Chabad-Lubavitch in Russia in Washington just a few days ago that all is well and good for Jews in Russia. Sure sounds like shtadlonis at full throttle.span class= " fullpost "> We consider such statements of Mr. Machkevitch absurd and being far from the reality. The measures which the Russian government undertakes in its fight against illegal immigration strictly correspond with the national and international law. These actions are not aimed against any particular nationality or ethnic group and are very similar to those which are undertaken by the U.S. Government in its struggle against illegal immigration.

Russia deports people of different nationalities if they violate the immigration law. Georgians or Azerbaijanians are not on top of the list. However the number of Georgians among other nationalities which are being deported from the Russian Federation is fairly high. The main explanation for that is the low standard of living in Georgia that provokes a high level of working migration from Georgia to Russia, approximately 150 thousands people a year, but only few of those immigrants observe all the necessary legal procedures. For example today only 4,5 thousands Georgians have the official working registration in Russia out of approximately 1,5 millions known Georgians immigrants.

Instead of solving its own economical problems Georgian Government prefers to search for an enemy outside the country to blame it for all the troubles Georgian people suffer these years. Following this policy Georgian officials try their best to present the deportation of illegal immigrants from Russia as the demonstration of xenophobia by the Russian Government.

On the contrary the leaders of other ethnic Diasporas which live in Russia state that the situation in Russia has considerably changed for the better. As for the Jews in Russia, during his last visit to USA on March 20-23, 2007 the Russian Chief Rabbi Mr. Berl Lasar at his meetings with the U.S. Congressmen underlined that: The Jews in new Russia possess all the rights and due respect". He also noted that the Russian Government undertook considerable efforts to provide the true equality of the Jews in the society.