A spokesman for the Jewish community in Russia's second-largest city said Tuesday that about 40 grave stones were recently damaged in St. Petersburg's Jewish cemetery and said vandals have attacked a Jewish restaurants twice this month.
Mark Grubarg said the latest attack on the restaurant, called Shalom, occurred Monday when assailants threw stones through its windows. Russia and the Soviet Union have a long history of anti-Semitism and fears of its resurgence have risen in recent months.
Grubarg, however, noted that no anti-Semitic signs were left either in the cemetery vandalism or the restaurant attacks, so simple hooliganism could not be ruled out.