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RUSSIAN POLITICIANS GIVE NEW VOICE TO ANTI-SEMITISM; DRIVE IMMIGRATION TO US
At a December assembly of the Russian parliament, the Duma, member Viktor Ilyukhin accused Russian Jews of attempting to destroy the country and engaging in a policy of genocide against ethnic Russians. Ilyukhin, the leader of the Communist Party in Russia, is a political extremist and has been a leader in various movements to oust Boris Yeltsin. He has also been associated with Colonel-General Albert Makashov, another Duma member and avowed anti-Semite. 
Several liberal members of the Duma responded by attempting to pass a resolution against political extremism but were defeated by the Communist majority. The Russian Prosecutor General has said he will take measures against such language, but the available remedies are limited because members of the Duma enjoy immunity from prosecution for actions taken as a legislator. Moreover, such anti-Semitic views are often shared by law enforcement.
Two laws that would address anti-Semitism, that would ban fascist symbols and organizations, have been pending in the Duma for over two years.
The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, an American charitable organization that assists Jewish and Evangelical Christian refugees from the former Soviet Union resettle in the United States, reports a sharp increase in the number of inquiries being made by Russian Jews regarding American asylum policies.