Several violent incidents occurred in Belarus in 1998 and early 1999,
including an arson attack on the synagogue in Minsk. A contract on mass
media communication signed in early 1998 between Belarus and Russia has
facilitated the entry into Belarus of Russian nationalistic and anti-Semitic
newspapers.

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY
There are about 39,000 Jews in Belarus, of whom 22,000 live in the capital
Minsk. The Jewish population is contracting at the rate of about 5,700 per
year: In 1998 some 2,300 emigrated to Israel and 3,300 went to Western
countries. About 1,000 per year are lost due to the negative birth rate.
There are 22 Jewish organizations in Belarus, most of them in Minsk. As
in Russia and Ukraine, these organizations deal with education (24 schools
serve 1,600 pupils), preservation of Jewish traditions, commemoration of the
Holocaust and charity work, to which the Israeli government and public
contribute, as do international Jewish organizations, principally the American
Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
The authorities place no obstacle to organized Jewish activities; however,
the government has expressed its dissatisfaction with Zionist elements,
especially their attempts to encourage emigration to Israel.

ULTRA-NATIONALIST ORGANIZATIONS AND GROUPS
There are a number of small ultra-nationalist organizations on the fringes of
Belarus society. This political camp includes the Belarussian Liberation
Party (BPS), Right Revanche (PR) and the White Legion (the Belarussian
version of the Ukrainian paramilitary UNA-UNSO and the Russian National
Legion of the NRPR -- the Russian National Republican Party). Members of
the now defunct Gray Wolves and Belarussian Fascist Party were
incorporated into the PR and the White Legion. These political organizations
openly declare their ideological identification with the New Right in Western
Europe and cooperate with fraternal European, especially French, parties. In
1998 and the beginning of 1999 the activities of these organizations
diminished and it is possible that they will cease to exist altogether. However,
local branches of the neo-Nazi RNE (Russian National Unity), led by
Andrei Sannikov, are active in this country, but are not strongly anti-Semitic.

ANTI-SEMITIC ACTIVITIES
Several violent incidents occurred in 1998 and early 1999. In April 1999 there
was an arson attempt on the synagogue in Minsk. Six incidents of
desecration of Jewish cemeteries and sites were recorded: in Borisov and
Orsha, in April 1998; in Gomel and Berezino, in July; in Brest, where in
August a memorial to Holocaust victims was desecrated; and in Rechitsa, in
February 1999. No perpetrators were arrested, except in Brest where a 15-
year-old skinhead was caught.
A number of newspapers, not necessarily connected to any specific
political group, regularly print anti-Semitic material. They include Lichnost
(Personality), Slavianskii nabat (Slavic Bell -- 11,000 copies), Slavianskaia
gazeta (Slavic Gazette -- 30,000 copies), which is distributed both in Belarus
and Russia, and Znamia junosti (Youth Banner).
A contract signed on 19 February 1998 between Belarus and Russia, on
mass media cooperation, has facilitated the entry into Belarus of Russian
nationalistic and anti-Semitic newspapers, which are now sold widely
throughout the country. Anti-Semitism was sometimes so vehement that the
governmental press commission warned Slavianskaia gazeta in November
that they were infringing the law and threatened to close the paper. The
paper ignored the warning, continuing as before, and the government took
no action.
In March 1998, the government-controlled radio broadcast material from
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion on a religious program. In spite of protests
from the Jewish community, the program was re-broadcast in May and again
in July.