Open letter of Ukrainian Jews to Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin.
Open letter of Ukrainian Jews to Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin.
05.03.2014
To the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
Mr. President!
We are Jewish citizens of Ukraine: businessmen,
managers, public figures, scientists and scholars, artists and
musicians. We are addressing you on behalf of the multi-national people
of Ukraine, Ukraine's national minorities, and on behalf of the Jewish
community.
You have stated that Russia wants to protect the
rights of the Russian-speaking citizens of the Crimea and all of Ukraine
and that these rights have been flouted by the current Ukrainian
government. Historically, Ukrainian Jews are also mostly
Russian-speaking. Thus, our opinion on what is happening carries no less
weight than the opinion of those who advise and inform you.
We do not believe that you are easy to fool. You
consciously pick and choose lies and slander from the massive amount of
information about Ukraine. And you know very well that Victor
Yanukovich's statement concerning the time after the latest treaty had
been signed that “...Kyiv is full of armed people who have begun to
trash buildings, places of worship, churches. Innocent people have begun
to suffer. People have simply been robbed and killed in the street...”
are lies, from the first word to the very last.
The Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine are not
being humiliated or discriminated against, their civil rights have not
been limited. Meanderings about “forced Ukrainization” and “bans on the
Russian language” that have been so common in Russian media are on the
heads of those who invented them. Your certainty of the growth of
anti-Semitism in Ukraine also does not correspond to the actual facts.
It seems you have confused Ukraine with Russia, where Jewish
organizations have noticed growth in anti-Semitic tendencies last year.
Right now, after Ukraine has survived a difficult
political crisis, many of us have wound up on different sides of the
barricades. The Jews of Ukraine, as all ethnic groups, are not
absolutely unified in their opinion towards what is happening in the
country. But we live in a democratic country and can afford a difference
of opinion.
They have tried to scare us (and are continuing their
attempts) with “Bandera followers” and “Fascists” attempting to wrest
away the helm of Ukrainian society, with imminent Jewish progroms. Yes,
we are well aware that the political opposition and the forces of
social protests who have secured changes for the better are made up of
different groups. They include nationalistic groups, but even the most
marginal do not dare show anti-Semitism or other xenophobic behavior.
And we certainly know that our very few nationalists are well-controlled
by civil society and the new Ukrainian government – which is more than
can be said for the Russian neo-Nazis, who are encouraged by your
security services.
We have a great mutual understanding with the new
government, and a partnership is in the works. There are quite a few
national minority representatives in the Cabinet of Ministers: the
Minister of Internal Affairs is Armenian, the Vice Prime Minister is a
Jew, two ministers are Russian. The newly-appointed governors of
Ukraine's region are also not exclusively Ukrainian.
Unfortunately, we must admit that in recent days
stability in our country has been threatened. And this threat is coming
from the Russian government, namely – from you personally. It is your
policy of inciting separatism and crude pressure placed on Ukraine that
threatens us and all Ukrainian people, including those who live in
Crimea and the Ukrainian South-East. South-eastern Ukrainians will soon
see that for themselves.
Vladimir Vladimirovich, we highly value your concern
about the safety and rights of Ukrainian national minorities. But we do
not wish to be “defended” by sundering Ukraine and annexing its
territory. We decisively call for you not to intervene in internal
Ukrainian affairs, to return the Russian armed forces to their normal
fixed peacetime location, and to stop encouraging pro-Russian
separatism.
Vladimir Vladimirovich, we are quite capable of
protecting our rights in a constructive dialogue and in cooperation with
the government and civil society of a sovereign, democratic, and united
Ukraine. We strongly urge you not to destabilize the situation in our
country and to stop your attempts of delegitimizing the new Ukrainian
government.
Labels: Conflict, Crimea, Judaism, Russia, Secession, Ukraine
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