Report: Jews to register or be deported in East Ukraine

A news agency in eastern Ukraine is reporting that pro-Russian agitators in the want-away region have distributed leaflets ordering all Jews to register themselves and their possessions with the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk.

According to Novosti Donbassa (Donbass News) flyers were handed to Jews near the city’s synagogue, signed by self-styled “people’s governor” Denis Pushilin, threatening deportation if Jewish citizens fail to comply.

It purportedly orders all Jews over the age of 16 to register at the occupied government building and pay a registration fee.

The report notes that the letter details a registration fee because Jewish leaders “supported the nationalist junta of [Stepan] Bandera in Kiev” and are hostile “to Orthodox Donetsk republic and its citizens”.

It adds: “In case of failure to register, the perpetrators will be stripped of their citizenship and deported forcibly outside the country with confiscation of property.”

The authenticity of the leaflet could not be independently verified, although both pro-European and pro-Russian parties have accused each other of anti-Semitism since the protest movement began late last year.