Anti-Semitic Actions in Russia Occur Where One would Most Expect Them – in Poor Muslim Areas, Levada Center’s Volkov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Nov. 1 – The readiness of residents of the Russian Federation to express anti-Semitic attitudes has declined over the last 35 years, according to Denis Volkov, the head of the Levada Center polling agency. But such attitudes persist among the poor and the elderly and can lead to protests, especially in impoverished Muslim regions like the North Caucasus.

            Drawing on the research his associate Lev Gudkov presents in two recent articles (levada.ru/cp/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/VOM1-2023.pdf), Volkov says the recent protests have happened there, precisely where one would most expect (forbes.ru/mneniya/499601-kto-vinovat-kak-svazany-sobytia-v-dagestane-i-obsij-uroven-antisemitizma-v-rossii).

            Because the situation of the Palestinians is so neuralgic for Muslims and because in Russia, hostility to Israel reflects officially supported hostility to the West, there is far more reason to expect that Muslims in the North Caucasus will continue to engage in pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel actions (cf. levada.ru/2023/10/27/palestino-izrailskij-konflikt-oktyabr-2023-goda/).

            But it cannot be excluded, Volkov says, that there will be anti-Semitic or anti-Israel actions elsewhere in Russia because about a third of the population still retains such attitudes when one talks about specifics even though the share of all Russian residents who express positive attitudes about Jews in general is far greater than that figure would suggest.