Despite anti-Semitism, Russia lures back Jews

By Amie Ferris-Rotman and Conor Sweeney

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Jews who fled oppression in the former Soviet Union are returning to Russia to make the most of an economic boom, even though a new strain of anti-Semitism is emerging in their old homeland.

Around one million Jews fled during the Soviet era and the post-communist chaos. Those returning now from Israel, the United States and Europe hope to use their new skills and old knowledge to do business.

"Now there are services here, like in New York and Paris, but the lifestyle is more interesting than in either of them -- it's easy to understand why thousands are coming back," said Yevgeny Satanovsky, president of the Russian Jewish Congress.

Hard statistics on Jews returning to Russia do not exist, said Satanovsky, but anecdotal evidence is there. He estimates 80,000-120,000 Russian Jews have returned, plus many more who originated in other Soviet republics.

"If you look at industry or banking you'll find thousands of families who have come back," he said.

The Israeli embassy in Moscow estimates around 90,000 of its citizens live in Russia.

"New Russian corporations are now hunting for managers from all over the world who have western experience and a Russian background. These emigrants know the language, the lifestyle, so it's very easy for them to integrate," Satanovsky said.

GRASSROOTS ANTI-SEMITISM

But the end of the Soviet Union also gave rise to a new phenomenon for Russia's Jews: skinheads and far-right groups who daub swastikas on walls and throw petrol bombs through synagogue windows.

In the 17 years since Soviet rule collapsed, attacks on Russia's Jewish population of around one million and their property have been increasing in both number and severity, say community leaders and human rights organizations.

Last year, they included the vandalizing of a synagogue in the far eastern port of Vladivostok, the spray-painting of "Holocaust 2007" on a Jewish centre in Arctic Murmansk, upturned gravestones in the south and an assault on a visiting Canadian rabbi.

"In Russia there exists 'bytovoi' anti-Semitism, literally meaning everyday or household, which is grassroots anti-Semitism, which is the main problem," Pinchas Goldschmidt, Moscow's chief rabbi and chairman of the European Conference of Rabbis, told Reuters.

"This is attacks on synagogues, spontaneous attacks on cemeteries, etc ... In Russia, we fear the skinheads and neo-Nazis," said Goldschmidt, a native of Switzerland who moved to Russia in 1989.

Anti-Semitism reared its head during Russian presidential election campaigns earlier this year, when dozens of websites and forums appeared saying candidates were Jewish.

The most severe attacks were directed at president-elect Dmitry Medvedev, who was cast as having Jewish roots and therefore unfit to run the country.