In 2011-2012, the level of crimes committed out of anti-Semitism remained relatively low in Russia. Over a period of 2 years, 5 incidents of attacks, 1 insult, and 38 cases of vandalism were recorded. If we compare this statistic to that of leading Western countries, we can even say that Russia is a relatively “calm” spot. For example, according to the joint report of the Service de Protection de la Communauté Juive SPCJ and the French Ministry of Internal Affairs, over 60 cases of physical violence on anti-Semitic grounds were recorded in France in 2011, and 177 cases of anti-Semitic violence and vandalism were recorded in 2012.

According to the Community Security Trust (CST) report that was published in February 2012, 92 anti-Semitic attacks and 83 acts of vandalism were recorded in Great Britain, while in 2012 69 attacks were recorded and 59 cases of malicious injury and desecration of Jewish property (these figures do not include incidents in which anti-Semitic graffiti appeared).
According to the report of the Anti-Defamation League, published in late March 2012, large groups of people in Eu

ropean countries share classic anti-Semitic sentiments – such as Jews having too much power in business, are more loyal to Israel than to the country in which they live, and talk about the Holocaust too much. 73% of Hungarians, 60% of the Spanish, 54% of the Poles, 39% of Italians, 35% of French, 30% of Austrians, 22% of Germans 21% of Norwegians, 20% of the British, 10% of the Dutch believe the statement “Jews have too much power in business” to be “correct.”

The statement “Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the country of their residence” was seen as “likely correct” by 72% of the Spanish, 61% of Italians and the Poles, 58% of Norwegians, 55% of Hungarians and Germans, 48% of the British, 47% of Austrians and the Dutch, and 45% of the French.

63% of Hungarians, 53% of the Poles, 48% of Italians, 47% of the Spanish, 45% of Austrians, 43% of Germans, 35% of French, 31% of the Dutch, 25% of Norwegians, 24% of the British believe that “the Jews still talk too much about what happened to them during the Holocaust.”

The so-called “new anti-Semitism,” which at its core attacks the State of Israel, is largely absent in Russia. Operation “Pillar of Defense,” conducted by Israel in November 2012, garnered only a weak response in Russian society, noticeable only from a group of journalists and political experts who specialize in negative coverage of the policies of the Jewish state.

This situation is the result of several factors. First of all, the Jews have all but disappeared from the everyday life of most Russians due to a number of communities being destroyed in World War II by the Nazis and massive emigration. Additionally, the place of “greatest enemy” among most xenophobic Russians has changed from the Jew to the “migrant” - someone from the Caucasus or Central Asia. An emerging Islamophobia provoked interest towards Israel as a country that fights aggressive Islamism. This interest and sympathy stopped the “new anti-Semitism” from significantly taking root. Additionally, from the early 2000s the Russian authorities have embarked upon a course of close cooperation with Israel, which deprived “anti-Zionism” from support by the authorities.

However, none of this means that anti-Semitism in Russia has disappeared entirely. It exists both in its “traditional” form and in a latent state. No less than 8% of the population are certain that Jews are among the chief enemies of Russia. Anti-Semitism is widespread among those adhering to nationalistic views. A typical example: some nationalists still blame E. Khasis, who was convicted along with N. Tikhonov for the murder of lawyer S. Markelov and journalist A. Baburova, for her real or imagined Jewish heritage. And this is despite the fact that Tikhonov and Khasis are popular among young nationalists as the ideal adherents of ultra-right ideas.

Anti-semitic rhetoric is used by two parliamentary parties – the KPRF and the LDPR.

The KPRF included A. Kharchikov, a folk singer who is an anti-Semite, in its federal list for the 2011 State Duma elections. KPRF representatives – particularly Samara Oblast KPRF deputy candidate V. Maslov and the Samara Regional Duma KPRF deputy candidate S. Igumenov – earned some infamy by placing anti-Semitic materials on the internet. And while the former at least used pseudonyms (such as Kuzma Minin, Dmitry Pozharsky, and Benjamin Franklin) when publishing these materials on the forum of a local online media resource, S. Igumenov wrote anti-Semitic statements directly in his blog (such as “The kikes are in the dregs, foreigners can go and cry now – Sergei Igumenov has been registered as People's Deputy”). Anti-Semitic rhetoric was actively used during the “Russian March” organized in Krasnoyarsk on November 4, 2011, by KPRF representatives.

The LDPR actively used anti-Semitic rhetoric in early 2012, in its campaign literature published as part of the presidential election campaign of V. Zhirinovsky.

It is regrettable to note that anti-Semitic statements have made their way onto TV. A number of attempts at Holocaust revisionism on a regional level have been noted in 2011-2012. Attempts were also made in 2012 to officialize the term “Russian Holocaust,” which is actively used by anti-Semites.

Anti-Semitic elements are present in popular literature, and some writers deem anti-Semitism a suitable method of advertisement for their books. Book fairs which take place in the center of Moscow are places where anti-Semitic literature is disseminated unchecked.

The cooperation of the liberal unorganized opposition with Russian nationalists, which began in 2011, led to attempts to present convicted anti-Semites as “martyrs.” At the same time, articles have appeared in online media that see the opposition as a Jewish attempt to seize power.

Anti-Semitic ideology is slowly seeping into the minds of Russian Muslims and labor migrants from Islamic countries. Significantly, one of the two serious attacks on synagogues in 2012 took place in Derbent – a city in Dagestan, a region with a great number of radical Islamists. 2012 is also marked by the first mass public anti-Israeli event in which soccer fans participated.

Anti-Semitism-Based Crimes and Infractions

In comparison with 2010, the number of attacks on Jews (or people whom the attackers believed to be Jews) grew – four incidents in 2011 as compared to three. This could have been a worrying symptom, considering that the general number of attacks based in xenophobia fell by over 50%. But considering the statistic of the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights (MBPC), which notes that 153 people were victims of nationalists in 2011 (30 dead, 123 aggrieved), this growth remains within the boundaries of a statistic fluke and is pure chance. This is confirmed by the data collected in 2012.

In 2012, despite the general growth of the number of xenophobic attacks and their victims (according to the MBPC, there were 223 victims – 41 dead and at least 182 aggrieved), there had been only one attack whose victim was a Jews. Such a low growth rate in anti-Semitic crime is mostly due to Jews not being easy to recognize for most nationalists and to Jews being replaced by labor migrants in the position of “greatest enemy” in the eyes of most skinheads.

On January 2, 2011, a young woman mistaken for a Jew was attacked in the upper hall of the Moscow metro station “Chistye Prudy.”

On May 2, 2011, skinheads attacked three yeshiva students in Moscow at the “Chistye Prudy” metro station. One of them, an Iranian Jew, was beaten.

On May 5, 2011, the Israeli DJ Leon Zoar had been robbed and beaten in Khabarovsk.

In December 2011, in Moscow Oblast nationalist A. Pronsky killed his 19-year-old Jewish acquaintance and abused the corpse, filming the process as he went.

One public anti-Semitic insult was also recorded (Syktyvkar, October 25, 2011).

On February 27, 2012, an unidentified man sprayed tear gas in the face of a child returning with his babysitter from the Jewish Cultural Center.

One public anti-Semitic insult was also recorded. On December 9, 2012, one of the apartment owners on 7 Karl Marx street in Volgograd insulted one of the Jewish residents using anti-Semitic slurs.

The number of desecrations of Jewish graves has also continued to reduce. There were no recorded cases in 2011 and 2012 (and only one in 2010). It is likely that this “game” has fallen out of favor due to the vigilance of the police towards this sort of crime.

Three incidences of Holocaust memorial desecration were recorded in 2011 (early July in Petrozavodsk and on August 15 and 24 in Kaliningrad), six incidents of attack and defacement of premises occupied by a Jewish organization (including an arson attempt of the Darkei Shalom Synagogue in Moscow on July 12), and one incident of attack on an apartment which was believed to be occupied by a Jew (Lermontov, Stavropolsky Krai, November 6).

On August 26, 2011, unknown vandals destroyed an exhibition of illustrations by artist R. Belareva to a Yiddish-Russian dictionary, which was taking place in the RSUH exhibition hall. The workers of the exhibition center tried to hush up the scandal.

10 incidents of attack and defacement of premises occupied by a Jewish organization took place in 2012. First and foremost this includes an arson attempt made on a synagogue in St. Petersburg (March 5) and the explosion of a bomb near the Derbent synagogue (October 4). Swastikas were also drawn on the walls of the building occupied by the Kurgan Jewish community (May 15), the office of the St. Petersburg JAFI representative office (July 1), the synagogue, a Roman Catholic church, and mosque in Irkutsk (July 6), a community center in Rybinsk (July 14), the Derbent Chesed division (December 23) and the JAFI representative office building in Moscow (December 26). On July 14 it became known that the plaque on the cornerstone of a future synagogue in Kaliningrad was broken yet again. On December 11, the menorah erected by the Moscow Orthodox Jewish Union in the Filevsky Part in the west of Moscow was desecrated.

No incidences of Holocaust memorial desecration were recorded.

The number of attacks was lower by almost half in comparison to 2010 (in which there were 13 attacks).

11 incidences of anti-Semitic flyers being spread and graffiti appearing were recorded in 2011. In 2012, only 9 such cases were recorded.

The general number of cases of anti-Semitic vandalism (22 in 2011 and 19 in 2012) makes up 14% of the cases of xenophobic vandalism in the Russian Federation in 2011 (as recorded by the MBPC monitoring) and 12.5% in 2012. This ratio tells us that anti-Semitism still plays an important role for ultra-right nationalists.


Established Legal Practice

In 2011, 17 people were convicted for anti-Semitic crimes (4 % of all those convicted of xenophobic crimes). 5 were sentenced to a fine, 4 to mandatory corrective labor, 4 to suspended sentences, and 4 to 1 to 5 years of jail time.

In 2012, 29 people were convicted for anti-Semitic crimes (9.5 % of all those convicted of xenophobic crimes). 16 were sentenced to a fine, 4 to suspended sentences, 3 to mandatory corrective labor, 2 to 10 days of arrest, 1 to a year in jail, and 2 to to custodial restraint. One person was found to be “non compos mentis” and was placed for compulsory treatment.

In reality, both of these figures – 17 and 21 people – are not final, as it is not always possible to determine what exactly was incriminated to the accused from the media or the reports of the law enforcement authorities (for example, in some cases the media speak only about “incitement of inter-ethnic hatred”).

Some of the most noticeable court cases are presented below.

On February 3, 2011, 25-year-old resident of Kursk V. Smorodsky was found guilty of spreading xenophobic and anti-Semitic audio and video materials on the Internet and sentenced to a 40000 rouble fine.

On July 26, 2011, the Pervomaysky District Court of the city of Kirov found two supporters of the anti-Semitic “academician” N. Levashov, who were holding a picket to protest against the ban on his “works,” of disseminating extremist materials. Both were convicted to 180 hours of mandatory labor.

On September 23, 2011, the Volzhsky District Court of the city of Saratov sentenced KPRF city duma candidate V. Maslov, who published anti-Semitic statements on forums of local online media, to a fine of 150 thousand roubles.

Several court cases were connected with stopping the circulation of Hitler's “Mein Kampf.” On June 7, 2011, the Volzhsky City Court of the Mariy El Republic obligated five Internet providers to restrict access to four websites containing “Mein Kampf.”

On June 15, 2011 it became known that a 43-year-old resident of Kaluga was fined 1000 roubles for publishing “Mein Kampf” online.

29 июля 2011 г. it became known that the Krasnoglinsky District Court Prosecutor (Samara) obligated an Internet provider to restrict access to websites containing “Mein Kampf,” Mussolini's “The Doctrine of Fascism” and so on.

On December 14, 2011, the Zyuzyn court of Moscow convicted P. Samorodov to a suspended sentence of a year for illegal circulation of “Mein Kampf.”

On February 10, 2012, in Kursk Oblast former efreitor (Private First Class) A. Samofalov was convicted of inciting hatred towards persons of a non-Slavic appearance – person of Caucasian or Central Asian origin and Jews – and was sentenced to a fine of 50000 roubles.

On March 11, a 27-year-old resident of Novgorod the Great was found guilty of placing anti-Semitic and Caucasus-phobic videos in social networks and was sentenced to a fine of 120 000 roubles.

On April 9, 2012, the editor-in-chief of the Obninsk newsletter “Kazachiy Vzglyad” (“The Kossak View”) was sentenced to a year in jail for, among other charges, publishing anti-Semitic articles.

On June 20, 2012, it became known that the Zolotuhin Distict court of Kursk Oblast discontinued the case against a 58-year-old NOMP member. who was circulating anti-Semitic and anti-Caucasian flyers in 2010 on the territory of the “Korennaya Pustyn'” monastery, as he was found to be non compos mentis.

On September 11, 2012, the Lenin District court of Novosibirsk found 59-year-old local A. Mogilev guilty of participating in the banned public association “Spiritual-Family State Rus,” including the dissemination of anti-Christian and anti-Semitic materials. He was fined for a total of 12 thousand roubles.

On September 24, 2012, the Zasviyazh District court of Ulyanovsk convicted 24-year-old nationalist D. Shtylev for placing xenophobic and anti-Semitic materials on the Internet and sentenced him to 180 hours of mandatory labor.

On October 25 it became known that the Tomsk District court found a local 31-year-old woman guilty of inciting anti-Semitism and sentenced her to 3 months of mandatory work with deduction of 10% of her pay to the state revenue.

On November 12, the Prioksk District court of Nizhniy Novgorod sentenced a citizen to a fine for placing xenophobic (including anti-Semitic) materials online.

On December 21, a magistrate sentenced two students to 1 year and 8 months of custodial restraint for defacing a synagogue and mosque in Irkutsk with neo-Nazi symbols.

Among new materials included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials, which grew to 1058 positions in 2011 and to 1588 positions in 2012 were: “Catechist of the Russian in Russia,” V. Avdeev's book “Raceology: The Science of Hereditary Human Qualities,” “Vlesova Kniga” (“Book of Veles”), “Note on Ritual Murders” ascribed to V. Dal, “Catechist of the Jew in the USSR,” leaflet by V. Gladkov “Kikes,” “Protocols of Zion,” one of the issues of the skinhead journal “Shaved” (“Pod Nol'”), two issues of the nationalistic newsletter “Russian Truth,” one issue of the newsletter “For the Russian Cause” (“Za Russkoye Delo”), movie “Russia With a Knife in Her Back – 2,” songs by the bands “Kolovrat” and “Cyclone-B,” an issue of the “Russian Zabaikalye” newsletter, N. Levashov's and V. Korchagin's book, a fake older than the Bolshevik revolution “Hundred Laws from the Talmud,” V. Yemelyanov's “De-Zionisation,” I. Rodionov's leaflet “The Solution to the Jewish Question,” books of Holocaust deniers Y. Graf “The Myth of the Holocaust” and M. Weber “The Full Truth about the Holocaust,” E. During's book “The Jewish Question,” A. Bragin's book “The Russian answer to the Jewish Question,” one of the issues of the “Russian Truth” newsletter, a compilation of essays by Holocaust deniers “Revisionist History: A Look from the Right,” several issues of the “Russian Front of Moscovia” newsletter, V. Demin's books “From the Aryans to the Rusichi” and “From the Rusichi to the Russians,” V. Istarhov's book “The Strike of the Russian Gods,” R. Wagner's leaflet “Jewry in Music,” one of the issues of the “Russian Truth” journal, four leaflets by the Neo-Pagan Dobroslav, the anti-Semitic fake “Talmud on the non-Jews,” newsletter “Orthodox Rus,” G. Klimov's book “God's People,” N. Korolev's book “Numbers of Righteousness,” and the leaflet “Racial Hygine and the Demographic Policy in National-Socialist Germany (Biological Foundations and Their Rational Use to Preserve and Multiply Nordic Blood).” Thus, most “classic” anti-Semitic literature has now become banned in Russia.

Roskomnadzor gave two warnings for circulation of anti-Semitic materials in 2012. One was given to the Volgograd newsletter “Kolokol'” for publishing the anti-Semitic “Address of Colonel Kvachkov to the All-Russian Officer Assembly on November 1, 2011” and the second was given to the online media resource ArtPolitInfo, which published a video by the Kolovrat band.

Notably, new organizations were finally banned and made the Federal List of Extremist Organizations in 2011, such as “The Slavic Union,” DPNI, RONS, the “Spiritual-Family State Rus” organization, the Tatarstan Division of RNE, the Cherepovetsk Division of the “National Socialistic Initiative,” the Maykop organization of “Orthodox Inglings” and the “Format 18” group. All of these organizations actively used anti-Semitism in their propaganda. However, due to the imperfections of Russian legislation, their leaders and activists continue their political activities. In some cases, the organizations were even able to preserve the familiar abbreviations, just slightly changing the full names of their organizations.

A unique case of pre-trial dispute resolution was recorded in 2011. The case was between the Jewish community of Ufa and the four youths which attacked the synagogue in September 2010. After the youths paid for damages – and one of them even helped to repair the synagogue – a community representative stated in court on March 4 that the community has no further complaints towards the accused.

Anti-extremist legislation is being further perfected. On December 8, 2011, RF President D. Medvedev signed a law on amendments to Articles 280, 282-1, 282-2 of the Russian Criminal Code, allowing mandatory labor to be an admissible sentence. Articles 282 and 282-1 also include a ban from certain positions and activities for a term of 3-5 years. A new lower limit for fines was also introduced to Article 282 — 100000 roubles. The latter, if used appropriately, will be fairly serious leverage against anti-Semitic political writers.

In 2011, there had been cases of misuse of the anti-extremist legislation in the fight against anti-Semitism. Mostly this concerned wrongful inclusions of books into the Federal List of Extremist Materials and punishment for their circulation. For instance, the diaries of Joseph Goebbels, which are an important source of historical material, were included in the list. On May 26 it became known that after H. Picker's book “Hitler's Table Talks” (another important historical source) was found in the holdings of the Central Library System of Bogandovich, the library director was fined 2000 roubles and the book was confiscated. On June 14, 2011, it became known that Picker's book and Goebbel's diary had been confiscated from the research library of Ulyanovsk Oblast. On June 4, 2012, it became known that the Nagatin District Court of Moscow complied with the demand of the district public prosecution office and obligated the OOO “KS Telecom” to restrict access to a webpage where Picker's book had been published.
In April 2011, the case of R. Hozeev had taken place in Perm. Hozeev was charged with quoting “Mein Kampf” during an argument on an Internet forum in 2005. However, the magistrate of the Ordzhonikidze District of Perm closed the case on April 14 due to an absence of offending elements. On May 5 his decision was supported by the district court, and on June 16 – by the Perm Oblast court.

Blog of famous writer L. Kaganov had been closed in My 2011 by FSB order as it contained a post in which Kaganov made fun of a poem on the Federal List of Extremist Materials.

On June 25, 2012, it became known that the magistrate of the Zheleznogrosk Judicial District #1 of Kursk Oblast fined 25-year-old citizen K. in execution of the prosecutor's order for having placed photos of high-ranking state officials in military uniform with a Nazi swastika and with the national emblem of Nazi Germany on the Vkontakte social network.

On October 19, 2012, the magistrate of Novocherkassk fined the Rostov-na-Donu leader of “Drugaya Rossiya” S. Cherepovsoky for 1.5 thousand roubles on a charge of circulating extremist materials and demonstrating Nazi paraphernalia on his personal webpage in the Vkontake social network. The material incriminated as extremist had been absent in the Federal List of Extremist Materials and the swastika was In a screenshot from the movie ”American Story X.”

On the other hand, on February 27, 2012, the Samara District court vacated the sentence of S. Davydov, an editor of the “TTL-Gorod” website, who was found guilty of circulating neo-Nazi paraphernalia for publishing a photo with a young man holding a flag with a swastika.

Conclusion

For several years now the state of anti-Semitism in Russia remains unchanged. Even though the number of anti-Semitic attacks or vandalism is low, latent anti-Semitism is high. Currently it has fallen by the wayside, but the fact that it remains widely spread is still a concern; should any social disruptions happen, the anti-Semitism may become open rather than latent.

Growing anti-Semitism in the Muslim community remains practically closed for study. We can notice through indirect indicators that the ideas of radical Islamists are being spread among Russian Muslims. We can also see direct calls to “battle Zionism” sent out to hundreds of thousands of labor migrants coming to Russia from central Asia.

It is also worrying how civil servants in the course of their work have made direct denials that the Holocaust ever happened in Russia.

Even though the law enforcement agencies are quite active in their fight against xenophobia and anti-Semitism (in comparison with 10 years ago), it is worrying that they do not have the required minimum of specialized knowledge for their fight against anti-Semitism; because of this, the police in practice is quite lenient towards anti-Semites.

Additionally, unjustified accusations of anti-Semitism discredit the very idea of the fight against this evil and allow real anti-Semites to be presented as people who were slandered by the authorities.