WASHINGTON, D.C. May 2, 2014


TO: NCSJ Leadership and Interested Parties

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

This week, the IMF approved a $17 billion bailout for Ukraine, contingent on drastic economic reforms, in a move to shore up Ukraine's deflating economy.

Ukraine's new government has promised to undertake spending cuts and tax increases and to reform Ukraine's energy sector, which depends heavily on natural gas imports from Russia.

The IMF also warned that increased instability in Ukraine's east would further depress the economy. The IMF and its partners, it said, may need to make additional commitments to prevent a deeper and longer recession.

Last week, NCSJ Deputy Director Lesley Weiss traveled to Belarus in her capacity as Chair of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Abroad. She was invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss the protection and preservation of cemeteries, monuments, and historic buildings in Belarus associated with the heritage of Americans.

The visit to Minsk was a continuation of discussions between the U.S. and Belarus governments toward reaching an agreement on the protection and preservation of cultural properties.

With the help of the U.S. Embassy in Minsk, her government meetings included discussions with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, the Office of the Plenipotentiary for Religions and Nationalities, and the Department of Archives and Records of the Ministry of Justice.

Lesley had the opportunity to meet with Jewish community leadership, and was pleased to have had the chance to visit with Galina Levina and her mother to extend personal condolences on the recent death of Leonid Levin, NCSJ's longtime friend. She also met with representatives of civil society, historians, heritage preservation experts, and visited Jewish and other historical sites in Minsk and Mogilev.

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.