E/CN.4/2000/16 page 33 F. Russian Federation Case 1999/1: Allegations of anti-Semitism 144. The following incidents have been reported: (a) 21 March 1999: Vandals sprayed anti-Semitic graffiti on the walls of a public school in Orel, which rents space to the local Jewish community for Hebrew classes. After seeing slogans like “kill a Jew” on the walls of the school, Jewish leaders say that they are afraid to continue holding classes there. Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), 21 March 1999 (b) 17 March 1999: Speaking to a crowd of 50,000 supporters, Alsan Maskhadov, the leader of the breakaway republic of Chechnya, blamed “international Zionist centres” for trying to topple him from power. JTA, 17 March 1999 (c) 17 March 1999: Rostov Oblast Prosecutor General Sergei Ustinov refused to bring charges against General Albert Makashov for his anti-Semitic comments on 20 February in Novocherkassk. During his speech at a meeting of the “Movement to Support the Army”, General Makashov suggested that the name of the organization should be changed to “Movement against Kikes”. RFE/RL Newsline, 17 March 1999 (d) 8 March 1999: A synagogue was vandalized in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk. Vandals sprayed the walls with swastikas and the symbol of the neo-nazi group Russian National Unity (RNU), which resembles a swastika combined with a cross. Vandals also destroyed furniture and tore holy books to pieces. Local police played down the significance of the crime, calling it a childish prank. The RNU is very active in the Novosibirsk region, which is home to 10,000 Jews. JTA, 9 March 1999 (e) February 1999: Borovichi, Russia, has become a centre of a new wave of increasing anti-Semitism in rural Russia. Local Jewish leaders appealed to international monitoring groups to help defend them against an anti-Semitic campaign of terror orchestrated by the RNU. (In response, the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ) mounted an international campaign). Jewish graves have been desecrated, the city has been covered with anti-Semitic posters, and Jews have received mailed death threats. The campaign against the city`s 500 Jewish residents began over a year ago when a local fascist group, “Myortvaya Voda”, (Dead Water) sponsored anti-Semitic television ads, calling for the good Christians of Borovichi to kill one Jew a day. Local RNU members, whose meeting with local Cossack leaders and military recruiters have been featured on local television, are now organizing the recent wave of anti-Semitic activity. Uniformed RNU leaders are allowed to distribute their propaganda and enlist young members at local schools. UCSJ Press Release and Action Alert, 17 February 1999. Government reply 145. The declarations made by a certain number of militants of the “Movement to Support the Army, the Defence Industry and military research”, of “Workers’ Russia” and the “Officers’ Union” at meetings held in Moscow on 3 and 4 October 1998 led the Public Prosecutor in that city to begin public action under Section 1 of article 280 of the Penal Code of the Russian