Jewish Groups Setting Strategy Against Zhirinovsky’s Popularity

Still reeling from nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s surprisingly strong showing in Russia’s parliamentary elections, some Jewish groups are seeking strategies to encourage the Russian government on its reformist course.

Among the ideas under consideration are educating Russians about the Holocaust, ensuring that international aid to Russia moves quickly through the pipeline and working to combat Zhirinovsky’s nationalistic messages.

At a luncheon here Wednesday organized by the American Jewish Committee and the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, officials from the State Department and the Israeli Embassy discussed the Russian elections and their impact on Russia’s Jewish community.

“The more we find out about him, the more he discredits himself,” said Mark Levin, executive director of the National Conference.

A cautionary note was sounded by the Israeli Embassy official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official warned that if world Jewry began a “full-fledged campaign against Zhirinovsky,” this could play into the Russian politician’s hands.

“It will do a great service to Zhirinovsky,” and present him “the way he wants to depict himself among Russian nationalists,” the official said.

‘A PARLIAMENT IN GRIDLOCK’

Zhirinovsky, the son of a Jewish father, at one point in the early 1980s considered making aliyah to Israel, the embassy official said.

Zhirinovsky’s strong showing in the Dec. 12 elections surprised the U.S. government, which had associated itself strongly with the reform government of Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

Jason Isaacson, AJCommittee’s Washington representative, said his organization would try to institute educational programs in Russia on tolerance and diversity similar to AJCommittee programs elsewhere in Europe.

The Jewish community should greatly expand its efforts to educate Russians about the Holocaust and fascism and also should lobby the U.S. government to ensure that aid money currently in the pipeline gets quickly to Russia, Isaacson said.

The United States appropriated more than $2 billion in aid to Russia this past year.

Zhirinovsky’s party won 16 percent of the vote, giving nationalistic forces a total of 40 or 41 percent, with reform parties accounting for about 38 percent, centrists 8 or 9 percent, and independents 12.5 percent in the lower house.

The results indicate that when the Parliament meets in January, it will be “a parliament in gridlock,” said a State Department official who declined to be identified.

One concern for the American Jewish community is the election’s effect on Russia’s Jewish community, which numbers between 1.5 million and 2 million.

Murray Feshbach, a Russia expert at Georgetown University, said the election, combined with economic and political qualms, could create a surge in Jewish emigration.

But the embassy official said Israel had not seen a significant increase in requests for visas for Israel or elsewhere.