As in the previous year, the situation in Russia is reminiscent of a smoldering peat bog: widespread latent anti-Semitism might lead to an explosion in certain circumstances (as the events of December 11, 2010, showed). Although in a sense Russia and the CIS countries remain a refuge in the turbulent seas of anti-Semitism, this calm is quite deceptive. It is enough to remember that there are anti-Semites at the MSU Department of History, that the open speech containing anti-Semitic statements of a highly ranked Russian Orthodox Church official did not provoked any kind of intelligible reaction from the Church hierarchy, and that the history of Russia is being taught in several seminaries by a book with anti-Semitic insinuations, a book published by a collective of authors headed by MGIMO professor Zubov.

The efforts of the law enforcement organs to combat anti-Semitism are significant, yet insufficient. The ideologists of anti-Semitism, who poison hundreds, if not thousands of minds with their writings, remain untouchable, and the publishers of anti-Semitic literature, who earn their bread by preaching hatred. An effective punishment for both would have been a large fine (in case of publishing houses, it should be a fine collected if a book published by them is recognized as anti-Semitic material). The laws regarding the suppression of extremist organizations practically do not work, because nothing stops them from continuing working having just slightly changed their name.

People who have soiled themselves with xenophobic and anti-Semitic calls to action must not work in education, the media, in civil service. It is possible that this problem will be solved by a draft law that RF President Medvedev announced the preparation of in February 2011.

Society in 2010 has demonstrated examples of successful actions against anti-Semitism without the support of the state and the authorities. This line of work must continue. We believe that the Jewish community should play a more active role, as it is obviously interested in counteracting extremism. Evolution here should take place in two directions. The top priority would be a monitoring system that must be put into place to allow geting as accurate a picture of current events as possible. The community must also actively act against radical anti-Semites in court.

It is quite possible, however, that there are more incidents of anti-Semitism in Russia than the current monitoring system shows. The Moscow, Ulyanovsk, and Ekaterinburg anti-Semitism hotline, organized in 2010 by the Federal Jewish National Cultural Autonomy with the support of the Civic Chamber, received 200-300 calls in the course of its activity. Even considering that some of these phone calls were made by people with different phobias, who saw anti-Semitism in absolutely mundane collisions, it still seems there were at least a couple dozen incidents that remained unrecorded by any monitoring. A similar situation was shown by the first half-year period of the FJCR regional offices of legal affairs, which registered a whole row of manifestations of enmity towards the Jews that had not previously been included in any summaries or reports. In particular, it was the reports of the legal offices that allowed to monitor in Ulyanovsk an all-time high in anti-Semitic graffiti – almost a third of all recorded cases.

It is enough to remember that on December 11, 2010, when the biggest xenophobic mass riots in recent years took place in the very center of Moscow, on Manezhnaya square. These riots did not only include the beating of Caucasus region natives, but also by shouts “Down with the Jewish government!” A significant percentage of the Russian population still carries anti-Semitic phobias in its mind.

In speaking of anti-Semitic phobias in the mind of the common Russia, there is a situation of deep latent anti-Semitism, and its dormancy does not make it less dangerous. “Soft” anti-Semites also consume myths created by adherents of “hard” anti-Semites: myths about the Jewish conspiracy, of the hatred of Jews towards Russians, Orthodox Christinanity, Islam, of Judaism being alien to Russia, and so on. These myths are being spread through Internet media, websites and Internet forums, and somewhat less – through mainstream television.

In cases when carriers of anti-Semitic biases have powers of authority, they may well make the life of Jewish communities far more difficult. According to FJCR data, this is the case in one of the southern regions of Russia.

Anti-Semitic literature remains a powerful channel for transmitting anti-Semitic ideas into the mass consciousness. Unfortunately, as in previous years, openly anti-Semitic books are being sold on large-scale book fairs in Moscow through the full condonation of their administrations.

As in 2009, the appearance of anti-Semitic tendencies in course books remains a significant problem. The situation is frankly becoming dangerous. Anti-Semitic statements are present in a book which teaches history to future Russian Orthodox clergy, as well as in a university textbook written by MSU History Department professors. It is even more dangerous that these views are widely spread among Russian historians. This was demonstrated by the situation of Vdovin and Barsenkov, when it became known that the historians' “guild” did not notice the xenophobic and anti-Semitic passafes in this textbook for many years, and when a scandal began, tried to soft-pedal the confrontation. It is no less shocking that an RGGU professor, a professor of a university known for its democracy and freedom of thought, repeats anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Trotsky.

In speaking of anti-Semitic activities of representatives of the Orthodox Church, the activities of Syktyvkar and Vorkuta Bishop Pytyrym are rather alarming. Pytyrym is obviously aiming to be the leader of the radical winf of the Orthodox Church. He and the clergy that follows him openly call for violence towards the Jews (“smite him on the face; strike his mouth; sanctify your hand with the blow.”)

A component of anti-Semitic propaganda is Holocaust denial. The accent is usually placed not so much on denying the fact that Jews were being killed, but on attempts to cast the preservation of the memory of the Holocaust to be a means for “the Jewish supremacy of the world” and a result of “Jewish greed.”

Nevertheless, it can be stated that in 2010, anti-Semitic activity continued to fall in the Russian Federation. Among other aforementioned reasons, two must be singled out as the most important. The first is the more active position of the authorities to stop what is in Russian-legalese called “extremist activity,” which became especially noticeable since 2009. The second reason, which needs a more thorough sociological analysis, seems to be the evolution of right-wing conservative attitudes in Russian society. This trend let to a serious change of views on Israel, which used to be shown as a symbol of the world's evil in Soviet propaganda. Today, Israel is seen by Russia as a normal state, with which a normal, almost friendly relationship is being developed, whose goods fill the shelves of Russian stores, a country which was visited by approximately 500 000 Russians in 2010, where the friends and family of Russians live, and which is being attacked by Muslims and representatives of the Western left wing because of their policy in the Near East conflict. The absence of a real left wing in Russia and the growth of anti-Muslim xenophobia are becoming a catalyst of change for the attitude towards the Jewish state, and thus to the Jewish people, into a more positive one. This connection between right-wing conservative attitudes and pro-Israeli positions seem to be becoming a worldwide phenomenon, which is now beginning to spread into post-Soviet territory, including Russia.