WASHINGTON, D.C. May 16, 2014


TO: NCSJ Leadership and Interested Parties

FROM: Stephen M. Greenberg, Chairman;
Alexander Smukler, NCSJ President;
Mark B. Levin, NCSJ Executive Director

Dear Friend,

Thousands of Ukrainian miners and steelworkers, employed by Ukraine's richest man Rinat Akhmetov, have taken to the streets in several cities in the Donetsk region. Yesterday, they took control of the city of Mariupol, expelling pro-Russian separatists. It remains to be seen whether this latest effort to restore order in the troubled region will be successful.

NCSJ participated this week in the annual AJC Global Forum, where we met with a number of our friends and colleagues from the former Soviet region, and discussed a number of topics, including the Ukrainian crisis and its impact on the Jewish community.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, speaking from Ukraine, addressed the AJC Global Forum participants, urging the international community to counter Russia's aggression against Ukraine, which is adversely impacting Ukraine's stability and the general well-being of Ukraine's Jewish population.

I would like to congratulate Russian Jewish Congress President Yuri Kanner, who has reelected for a second five-year term. The Russian Jewish Congress continues to be a valuable partner in our work on behalf of Jews in the former Soviet Union, and we look forward to continuing this important partnership.

We hope you will join us for our upcoming Board of Governors meeting on Tuesday, June 10. Speakers will include Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Yaakov Bleich and Dr. Archil Gegeshidze, Ambassador of Georgia to the United States. For more information and to register, please visit www.ncsj.org/Board.pdf.

Sincerely,

Mark B. Levin
Executive Director

About NCSJ

NCSJ: Advocates on Behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia, founded in 1971, represents the organized American Jewish community in monitoring and advocating on behalf of the estimated 1.5 million Jews living in the 15 successor states of the former Soviet Union.