Maidan Translations:
Open letter of Ukrainian Jews to Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin
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 Crimea and all of Ukraine and
that these rights have been trampled 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 are convinced that you are not easily fooled. This
means that you must be consciously picking and choosing lies and
slander from the entire body of information on Ukraine. And you know
very well that Victor Yanukovich’s statement used to describe the
situation after the latest treaty had been signed – “…Kyiv is full of
armed people who have begun to ransack buildings, places of worship, and
churches. Innocent people are suffering. People are being robbed and
killed in the streets…” – is simply a lie, 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 infringed upon. 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 about the growth
of anti-Semitism in Ukraine, which you expressed at your
press-conference, also does not correspond to the actual facts. Perhaps
you got Ukraine confused with Russia, where Jewish organizations have
noticed growth in anti-Semitic tendencies last year.
...
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.
...
Signed:
Josef Zisels Chairman of the
Association of Jewish Communities and Organizations of Ukraine (VAAD)
Ukraine, Executive Vice President of the Congress of National
Communities of Ukraine
Alexander Suslensky D.Sc., Vice President of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine, businessman
Andrei Adamovsky First Vice President of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine, member of the “Hillel” Jewish Student organization Observation Council (citizen of Russia)
Evgen Chervonenko Vice President of the European Jewish Congress, businessman
...
(Signatures still being collected)
March 4, 2014
A necessary putsch?
Who knows...
10/29/2010
A necessary putsch?
300 евреев.
Pranešimai
