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January 7, 2000/29 Tevet 5760, Vol. 52, No.18
Jews give Putin mixed reviews
LEV GORODETSKY
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
MOSCOW - While Russians are viewing Vladimir Putin's ascent to power as a surprise New Year's present, Jewish observers both in Russia and the United States are decidedly more mixed.
Some share the general Russian population's enthusiasm for Putin, who became president Dec. 31 when Boris Yeltsin resigned; others are cautiously optimistic. Still others fear the possibility of increased anti-Semitism and a move away from democracy.
Little was known about Putin when Yeltsin nominated him to be prime minister last August. But Putin's popularity soared in September with the start of the Chechen War, and it has skyrocketed more recently to unprecedented heights, approaching an 80 percent approval rating. Putin, whose party came in a close second in last month's parliamentary elections, is also seen as virtually a shoo-in to win Russia's presidential elections, which have been moved to March from June.
Putin has recently cultivated an image of being friendly toward Jews. In November, he met with leaders of the newly created Chabad Lubavitch-dominated Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, and told them them he is sympathetic to Jewish causes. The move partially backfired when some Jewish leaders in Russia complained that Putin had, perhaps inadvertently, singled out one of Russia's umbrella Jewish groups for support in an attempt to divide the Jewish vote.
One Jewish leader who is enthusiastic about Putin is Rabbi Zinovy Kogan, a leader of Reform Judaism in Russia, who called Putin's rise to power "a positive development for Russian Jewry." Kogan met with Putin last month after the prime minister returned from Norway, where he had met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Putin "spoke very warmly about Barak, saying he was the single one there to support Russia's position over fighting terrorism in Chechnya," said Kogan, who is also one of the leaders of KEROOR, the Congress of Jewish Religious Communities and Organizations of Russia.
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