Donetsk Pro-Russians Order Jews to 'Register or be Deported' for Supporting Kiev Rule
A flyer bearing the stamps of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk has allegedly ordered all Jews in the eastern Ukrainian city to register with the pro-Russian separatists - or face deportation.
The leaflet, signed by self-styled "people's governor" Denis Pushilin, has been handed over to Jews near the Donetsk synagogue, according to Novosti Donbassa (Donbass News) news agency.
It orders all Jews aged over 16 years old to register before the government building, which has been occupied by pro-Russian insurgents in defiance of Kiev rule.
Jews would also have to pay a registration fee of $50 (£30) before 3 May and list all real estate and vehicles owned.
The registration and the fee are due because the Jewish leaders "supported the nationalist junta of [Stepan] Bandera in Kiev" and are hostile "to Orthodox Donetsk republic and its citizens.
"In case of failure to register, the perpetrators will be stripped of their citizenship and deported forcibly outside the country with confiscation of property."
Novosti Donbassa reported that the leaflet was distributed by "three unidentified men wearing balaclavas and carrying the flag of the Russian Federation" with the aim of causing a conflict, then "to blame the attack on separatists".
The authenticity of the leaflet could not be independently verified.
The purported anti-Semitic leaflet comes after a UN investigation found that ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine intentionally seized on exaggerated reports of attacks by Ukrainian nationalists to justify Russian involvement in the region.
The report also dismissed the fears of the far right Pravy Sektor (Right Sector), which has been at the forefront of the Ukraine revolution and accused of acts of violence against ethnic Russians, as "disproportionate".
The role of Right Sector in post-revolution Ukraine was exploited by Russia to justify its intervention in Crimea, arguing that Kiev had been taken over by fascists and neo-Nazis. Russian president Vladimir Putin said the Maidan uprising had been hijacked by Jew-haters and Nazi sympathisers.
UPDATE: Pushilin has denied the Novosti Donbassa's report and assured reporters that the flyer is not from his organisation.
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