EU paper touts antisemitic tropes against Russian Jews, Roman Abramovich

A contentious European Union working paper is garnering sharp criticism for its alleged antisemitic overtones, particularly surrounding references to Russian Jewish billionaires, notably Roman Abramovich.

In the official document, one section reads, “Like most oligarchs, Abramovich is part of the Jewish Russian minority, which, as a result of the latent antisemitism in the Soviet Union and its exclusion from many public and security-related leadership functions, formed informal networks.”

Further, controversial content in the document mentions, “Abramovich, as the main shareholder of Omsk Bacon, found nothing wrong to benefit from the annual slaughter of 300,000 pigs.”

“Yet he also followed [Boris] Yeltsin’s and later [Vladimir] Putin’s instructions to finance a hassidic counter-organization against the Russian Jewish Congress, which founded by [media tycoon Vladimir] Gusinsky in 1996 had in their view become too powerful as an internationally well-connected lobby.”

Letter to the EU

Alexander Benjamin, vice-chairman (advocacy) of the European Jewish Association, expressed his outrage in a letter addressed to the European Council, stating: “Let us be clear at the outset, we do not seek to defend Mr. Abramovich or his business interests... However... [that] his religious affiliation... is mentioned at all... that his stated religion is demeaned and judged... makes it antisemitic, pure and simple.”

Highlighting the severity of the document’s content, Benjamin noted, “All of this, we remind you, in an Official European Union working paper, not some populist or xenophobic rag, but an official EU document.”

He further called upon the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism, pointing out the EU’s membership in IHRA.

Concluding his letter, Benjamin demanded both a retraction of the “clearly antisemitic paper” and a “clear and public apology at the highest EU Institutional level.”

The EU and the EEAS have yet to issue an official response to the allegations.