There are no reports indicating that employees at the Synagogue in Samara were threatened and/or beaten by skinheads in May 1998 in the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

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 any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Sources Consulted

IRB Databases

Lexis/Nexis

Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ). December 1999. Antisemitism, Xenophobia and Religious Persecution in Russia's Regions 1998-1999. Washington, DC: UCSJ.

One oral source did not respond within the time constraints.

Internet sites including:

Amnesty International (AI)

Anti-Defamation League (ADL)

Anti-Fascist Action

The Federation of Jewish Communities of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

Freedom House

Human Rights Watch (HRW)

Institute for Jewish Policy Research

International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF-HR)

Izvestiya Samara

Keesing's

Kommersant v Samare

Komsomolskaya Pravda v Samare

National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ)

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)

Samara.ru (Samarskii informatsionnyi portal)

The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism at Tel Aviv University

The Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

World News Connection (WNC)