MOSCOW (AP) — An angry dispute has broken out between two rival Jewish groups, with one alleging that the Kremlin is meddling in the community's politics — a rollback to the Soviet era, when the Communist leadership kept religious groups on a short leash.
The rift between followers of Russia's chief rabbi, Adolf Shayevich, and a group led by the ultra-Orthodox Chabad Lubavich movement became public last month after Shayevich wrote President Vladimir Putin a letter about it.
In the letter, Shayevich said the Kremlin had snubbed him by initially not inviting him to Putin's inauguration or the anniversary celebration of the end of World War II.
The 62-year-old Shayevich also wrote that "official sources" had told him that the Federation of Jewish Communities was trying to replace him with its own rabbi and push him to resign — and that the federation's plan had the Kremlin's blessing.
Both Kremlin officials and leaders of the federation have denied Shayevich's claim.
"We don't have such plans," Lazar said this week. "Where he got that information, I don't know."