MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday welcomed Russian-speaking Jewish leaders from around the globe who are gathering in Moscow to take part in the new World Congress of Russian Jewry.
"For the first time, an international organization is being created of Russian-speaking Jews, people who belong to two great cultures: Jewish and Russian," Putin said in a statement released by the presidential press service.
"Your initiative is especially important today, when the whole world is uniting in the fight against extremism, xenophobia and nationalism, which serve as a breeding ground for terrorism," he said.
Delegates from Jewish communities in Russia and across the former Soviet Union are taking part in the four-day congress, along with those from Israel, the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. Their goal is to build cooperation between Jewish organizations, support Jewish culture, support the people of Israel and the global anti-terrorist coalition.
While Jewish culture has revived in Russia since the 1991 Soviet collapse, the congress is taking place against the backdrop of a recent spate of racist and anti-Semitic attacks in Russia. In May, a booby-trapped sign reading "Death to Jews" exploded in the face of a woman who tried to remove it from a roadside outside Moscow.
Putin has pledged to fight skinheads and extremist organizations that attack racial and ethnic minorities. Last week, Russia's lower house of parliament passed a Kremlin-sponsored bill giving Russian authorities more legal tools to shut down extremist organizations, though critics say the law would give the government too much power and allow officials to clamp down on any kind of protest.