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Putin’s New Year greeting: Jews must make ‘hefty contribution’

The statement comes as Russia calls up hundreds of thousands of troops.

By World Israel News Staff

In a Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year, message to the Jewish community, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued what appears to be a warning to the country’s Jews, saying they are expected to make a “hefty contribution.”

The warning comes amidst the heavy fighting in the region since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

“The Rosh Hashanah holiday turns believers to high moral guidelines which lie at the foundation of all global religions – humanity, piety and mercy, inspires them to do good deeds,” the statement read in part.

“It is very important that while retaining their loyalty to old spiritual traditions, Russia’s Jews make a hefty contribution to the preservation of cultural diversity in our country, to strengthening interethnic concord and the principles of mutual respect and religious tolerance,” the Russian president said.

Putin announced a partial mobilization and call-up last week of some 300,000 reserve soldiers and those with previous combat experience, alongside a blanket ban on men aged 18 to 65 from leaving the country. The announcement put Russian Jews in a “new stage in the panic,” according to a local rabbi.