MOSCOW, May 6 (RIA Novosti) – The Jewish residents of Ukraine’s southern port city of Odessa are not planning a mass evacuation, according to a statement by the Russian Jewish Congress received by RIA Novosti Tuesday.
"The Press Service of the Russian Jewish Congress has appealed to Beni Lidsky, the head of the Moscow branch of the Jewish Agency for Israel (Sochnut), the official organization dedicated to strengthening ties between the Jewish Diaspora and the State of Israel. Lidsky denied the media reports. According to him, the evacuation of the Jews from Odessa is not carried out or planned," the statement said.
Meanwhile, the number of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants to Israel has significantly increased, according to Lidsky. The Jewish Agency opened a Support Center for Ukrainian Jews in Kiev. This measure should help to monitor the situation regarding the safety of members of the Jewish community, Sochnut believes.
Zinovy Kogan, Vice President of the Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Unions of Russia, also voiced doubt about the Odessa Jews’ evacuation plan.
“I think that they should defend their rights on their land," he told RIA Novosti.
If there’s someone who can leave Odessa, it will only be local Rabbis because they are mostly foreigners and “the smallest tectonic shifts make them anxious,” he added.
If the confrontation in Ukraine further escalates into a full-scale military conflict then refugees of all nationalities will flee not only Odessa, but also other regions of the country, said Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar, a representative of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.
The Jerusalem Post newspaper reported Monday that the Jewish residents of Odessa are ready for evacuation should the violence continue to escalate. It was reported that the Odessa Jewish community together with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has rented 70 buses to take adults and children out of the city in case of emergency. There are several evacuation plans, ranging from relocation within the city to sending community members to Chisinau, 2.5 hours away in neighboring Moldova, the newspaper said.
Despite Kiev’s promises to lay down arms, attacks on pro-federalization protesters have continued. Last Friday saw the bloodiest violence since the country’s regime change in February. The highest casualty toll was reported in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa, where at least 46 people died, three went missing and 214 were injured.
