The following information is additional to that contained in the Research Directorate's January 1999 issue paper entitled Ukraine: Situation of the Jews.

A report on Odessa published in the April 1999 issue of Hadassah Magazine, the magazine of The Women's Zionist Organization of America (Hadassah), states that:

Not all of Odessa's remaining Jews are out of the closet or entirely aware of their heritage. Estimates put the total at 45,000 (in a population of 1.1 million), but only 25 percent acknowledge their roots. Nonetheless, there are two active synagogues, a cultural center and other communal institutions. Jews identify either religiously or culturally-though crossovers do exist.

A 12 March 1998 DPA report refers to Odessa's mayor Eduard Hurvitz as being Jewish and states that:

Though Hurvitz has acknowledged that he no longer has control of the city's law and order situation, he is still favoured by many voters for other quite mundane reasons... "one can see the fruits of Hurvitz' work: the streets are cleaner, transport runs smoothly, the street lights are on at night. But the main thing is that salaries are being paid on time," said one supporter, Vitaly Orlov, who teaches French at Odessa University.

In a winter 1996 report entitled An American Jew Visits Kiev published in the Toledo Jewish News and reproduced on the Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law, Professor of Law Andrew Beckerman-Rodau states that:

The size of the Jewish community in Kiev is unclear. Depending on who I asked, I was told it was anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 with total Ukrainian Jewry numbering one half million.

According to Compton's Encyclopedia Online, the population of Kiev was estimated to be 2,625,000 in 1991.

A 26 October 1999 report entitled Antisemitism and Fascism in the Russian Provinces, which can be found on the Washington-based Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ) Website, states that:

In contrast to Russia, in Ukraine the central government has taken some real steps to protect its Jewish citizens from antisemitic violence and its encitement. Nevertheless, the threat to Jews remains, especially on the local or regional level where antisemitic Soviet era officials still hold sway in some areas...

Yet, on a Jewish candidate in the Kiev mayoral race, the report states that:

In May [1999], Kiev mayoral candidate Gregory Surkis faced a tide of antisemitic propaganda in the final week of campaigning against incumbent mayor Alexander Omelchenco when antisemitic posters and leaflets appeared.

A 28 May report published in the Jerusalem Post corroborates the UCSJ report and states that:

Gregory Surkis, a member of the Ukraine parliament and president of the Dynamo Kiev football club, is running against Mayor Alexander Omelchenko, who has been in office for three years... Surkis's Jewish background was not a dominant issue in the campaign until this week, when posters were put up and leaflets distributed that highlighted his nationality, something that has Ukraine chief Rabi Ya'acov Bleich very concerned.

The report also quotes businessman Vadim Rabinovich, head of the Congress of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, a rival organization to the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine, as saying that there was no state-sponsored antisemitism in Ukraine, that the Jewish community was not automatically behind Surkis, that neither two Kiev mayoral candidates were bad for the Jewish community and that both were serious and reliable.

According to the 25 June 1999 issue of a bulletin published by the US Embassy in Kiev entitled Ukrainian Political Developments, June 1 -19, Alexander Omelchenko was re-elected mayor of Kiev in June 1999.

A 25 April 1998 UCSJ report entitled 1998 Ukranian Parliamentary Election Wrap-up which analyses the effects of the elections on the Jewish community, states that:

...despite the use of antisemitic rhetoric in pre-election campaigning and the success of the Communist Party, Jews are thus far remaining calm. Jews won a total of 20 seats in the 450-member Parliament.

A 13 June 1999 report published in The Ukrainian Weekly, based in New Jersey, states that antisemitism does exist in Ukraine, but is confined to "fringe extremist groups" that had no elected representatives in parliament. The report also states that although Ukraine has many problems, rampant antisemitism is not one of them.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of a particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Compton's Encyclopedia Online. n.d. Kiev, Ukraine. http://www.optonline.com/comptons/ceo/02598_A.html [Accessed: 18 Jan. 2000]

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). 12 March 1998. BC Cycle. Marina Denysenko. "Death Threats, Murders in Odessa as Mayoral race Heats up." (NEXIS)

Hadassah Magazine [New York]. April 1999. Phyllis Ellen Funke. "The Jewish Traveler: Odessa." The Women's Zionist Organization of America (Hadassah). http://www.hadassah.org/news/apr99/traveler.html [Accessed: 17 Jan. 2000]

The Jerusalem Post. 28 May 1999. Elli Wohlgelernter. 28 May 1999. "Antisemitism Mars Kiev Mayoral Election." (NEXIS)

Toledo Jewish News. Winter 1996. Andrew Beckerman-Rodau. "An American Jew Visits Kiev." Reproduced in the Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law. http://www.law.onu.edu/faculty/beckerman-rodau/articles/jewish-news.html [Accessed: 17 Jan. 2000]

The Ukrainian Weekly [Passypany, NJ]. 13 June 1999. Myron B. Kuropas. "Faces and Places: Ukraine-bashing Continues." (NEXIS)

Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ). 26 October 1999. Micah H. Naftalin. News: Antisemitism and Facism in the Russian Provinces." http://ucjs.com/stories/102799MHNtest.shtml [Accessed: 18 Jan. 2000]

_____. 25 April 1998. Katia Downey. 1998 Ukrainian Parliamentary Election Wrap-Up: USCJ Analysis of Effects on Jewish Community. http://www.shamash.org/ucsj/stories/042598uk.shtm [Accessed: 30 Dec. 1999]

United States Embassy, Kiev. 25 June 1999. "Mayor of Kiev Reappointed as Municipal Governor" in Ukrainian Political Developments, June 1 -19. http://www.bisnis.doc.gov/bisnis/cables/990628polua.htm [Accessed: 18 Jan. 2000]