Nazi antisemitic propaganda had two lines of attack on the Jews. On the one hand, Jews were Bolsheviks, Communists and Marxists, determined to impose their ideology on the rest of the world. At the same time, quite the opposite, Jews were reviled as international bankers and financiers spinning a conspiracy to rule the world.
The two claims were not just untrue, but one directly contradicted the other.
At the start of his invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin declared that he was going to “de-Nazify” Ukraine. Russian propaganda refers to the government in Kyiv as a “Nazi regime.” However, just as in the case of Nazi propaganda, the facts directly contradict such characterization.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish and he was elected in 2019 by a 73-24 percent majority, with some 13.5 million Ukrainians voting for him, Additionally, there are plenty of Jews in his government including Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov.
And now Putin seems to have become determined to resolve that contradiction. A few days ago, speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, he dragged out the old trope, “I have many Jewish friends” and then proceeded to inform the audience that those Jewish friends told him that “Zelensky is not a Jew but a shame on the Jewish people”.
This follows a similar statement from a previous meeting with Russian war correspondents when Putin wondered aloud “how a man with Jewish blood in his veins can be a leader of the Ukrainian state, how he can support neo-Nazis.”
Putin's foreign minister answered those 'burning' questions
Well, Putin’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov provided an answer of sorts. In an interview with an Italian television station in May 2022, he explained that Zelenskiy could easily lead a neo-Nazi regime because “Hitler himself was partly Jewish” and that “we have heard from the Jewish people that the biggest antisemites are Jews.”
Outraged, Israel demanded an apology but Lavrov, who in every other civilized country would have been out on his ear, is still Russia’s chief “diplomat.” And he just can’t leave the Jewish issue alone.
Earlier this year he outraged both Israel and the United States by claiming that Washington wants to solve “the Russian question” the way Hitler designed the “Final Solution” for European Jewry.
PUTIN MAY not be an antisemite. In his youth in St. Petersburg, he had a Jewish teacher he loved (and who eventually emigrated to Israel) and a Jewish judo coach he respected, as well as, indeed, a group of close Jewish friends. There are still Jews in his inner circle and Jews in general have experienced no restrictions on pursuing their studies and careers over the past two decades – a refreshing change from the Soviet era.
But Putin, like all dictators, is a pragmatist with few moral principles. When his power is threatened, he will adopt the policies which help him stay in power. Now that the war in Ukraine is not going well and discontent is mounting, there is a need to find a scapegoat.
The Jews in Russia have always filled this role. Moreover, Putin’s career in the KGB took place in the 1970s and 1980s, at a time when the political police persecuted Soviet Jews who fought for the right to emigrate. Since Putin has expressed fondness for Russia’s Soviet and Imperial past, his heightened interest in the “Jewish question” is beginning to look ominous.
Perhaps the best historical parallel is with Mussolini’s Italy. Early on the “Il Duce”’s fascism had no antisemitic elements – on the contrary, some Italian Jews were among early supporters of the movement. Yet in 1938 the Italian leader enacted a set of brutal racial laws directed against the Jews – not only to please Hitler but under pressure from his homegrown fascists as well.
Russian nationalists who enthusiastically support Putin’s war in Ukraine see very well that, while there are some “loyal” Russian Jews, a majority are strongly opposed to the aggression. People of Jewish descent are prominent in the ranks of the Russian-speaking opposition outside the country, which have swelled since the start of the war. They include such leading figures as former owner of Yukos oil giant Mikhail Khodorkovsky, chess champion Garry Kasparov and journalist Viktor Shenderovich.
But even more numerous are those who protest the war silently, by voting with their feet. In 2022, aliyah from Russia jumped by 400 percent — and that doesn’t include many Israeli citizens who were born in the Soviet Union and who lived in Russia but decided to return home after the start of the war.
Just as Mussolini did in the late 1930s, Putin is starting to feel pressure from Russian nationalists to turn against the Jews.
There are other factors, as well. Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, who has effectively instituted Sharia laws in Chechnya and who is positioning himself as the leader of the 10 million Muslims living in the Russian Federation, has been picking fights with Israel. Most recently, he demanded that the Jewish State apologize for clashes with Palestinians at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Kadyrov and his private army are growing in influence in Russia.
MEANWHILE, RUSSIA is drawing closer to Iran. The Tehran regime is supplying increasing quantities of drones used to attack Ukraine and is reportedly building a drone plant in Russia. Cooperation with Russia allows Iran to reduce its international isolation, plus Iran is gaining sway over Kremlin policy.
Slowly but surely, antisemitism in Russia is increasing. Not just on the web, where it has always been pervasive, but in official policy, as well. Since last summer, the Justice Ministry has been harassing the Jewish Agency for Israel and may yet kick it out entirely – a move that will likely lead to the rupture of ties with the Jewish State.
Remaining Russian Jews should probably pay attention to Moscow Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt who resigned and left Russia last year. He has been telling all Russian Jews to flee too before they are made scapegoats for Putin’s war – for “corruption of the regime” and “impoverishment of the people.”
The writer, a New York-based economist, was born in Moscow. He is a member of the US Andrei Sakharov Foundation. In 2005-2008, he organized a support group for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which brought together Soviet Jewish immigrants in the United States.