In a move welcomed by organizations dealing with Jews in the former Soviet Union, President Clinton this week named career diplomat Thomas Pickering ambassador to Russia.
Jewish organizational officials feel that Pickering, a well-regarded former U.S. ambassador to Israel and the United Nations, will bring an accessible style and a sensitivity to human rights issues to his new job.
“I think he’s a very high-caliber individual,” said Mark Levin, executive director of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry.
“He’s assuming the position at a very crucial stage, not only in U.S.-Russian relations, but in terms of which direction Russia will go Will it continue in a reform-minded manner or will it turn in the other direction?”
“To us, it sounds like an inspired choice,” said Micah Naftalin, executive director of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. “It is terribly important that the U.S. send a really world-class, seasoned ambassador to Moscow.”
Levin said he hoped to meet with Pickering to discuss ongoing concerns facing Russian Jews, including prohibitively high emigration costs and processing problems, and the “unholy alliance” between former Communists and ultranationalists, who each blame the Jews for the current economic crisis in Russia.
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