Russia offers incentives to settle in former Jewish autonomous region
By SAM SOKOL
The World Forum of Russian Speaking Jews on Monday dismissed a Russian plan to encourage settlement of Russian expatriates in the former Jewish autonomous region of Birobidzhan.Earlier this month Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed off on a program of to offer financial inducements to bring over two thousand people to the Chinese border region, RIA Novosti reported. Birobidzhan was established in 1934 to serve as a Jewish autonomous oblast, or ethnic enclave. As of 2010 only around one percent of Birobidzhan residents was Jewish.Settlers would receive around eight thousand dollars, covering their relocation expenses, health insurance and other needs, eJewishPhilanthropy reported.Alexander Levin, President of the World Forum of Russian-speaking Jewry, is skeptical of the program. “We do not think that today, for the Jews, this initiative is relevant or realistic, as the Jews in Russia and Ukraine and other post-soviet countries live in big cities and are economically successful for the most part,” he told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.“Jews have a strong and developed State of Israel and it is specifically there that they should to go to in order to express their Jewish national identity.”
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