The Associated Press
Thursday, January 31, 2008; 8:30 AM

MOSCOW -- Russia's Jewish community on Thursday reported three attacks
in the last two weeks, including a raid on a synagogue and desecration
of a memorial to Holocaust victims.

In Ulyanovsk, a group of about a dozen young men painted swastikas
Tuesday on the walls of a synagogue and cursed at members inside, the
Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia said.

In Volgograd, anti-Semitic slogans were scrawled on a memorial to
Holocaust victims Sunday, the group said.

Last week, several young men burst into a synagogue in Nizhny Novgorod,
throwing religious books out a window and beating up a security guard,
it said. All three cities are in western Russia.

The federation said it was concerned about the rise in attacks targeting
Jews, calling it part of "a recent surge in anti-Semitic manifestations"
in Russia.

In 2007, 67 people were killed and more than 550 injured in ethnically
motivated attacks, according the SOVA rights center, which monitors hate
crimes.

In a report issued Tuesday, SOVA said hate crimes in Russia have grown
increasingly brutal and deadly. Authorities are doing little to combat
xenophobia, it said.

According to varying estimates, between 300,000 and 1.5 million Jews
live in the nation of 142 million. After an exodus in the years before
and after 1991 Soviet collapse, the Jewish community is experiencing a
moderate revival, with new synagogues, schools and cultural centers
being built across the country.

During the Soviet era, thousands of Jews were imprisoned or executed as
part of nationwide purges, and many more were forced to conceal their
Jewish identity.

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