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Stabbing victim, physician Mikhail Berlin, adjusts his bandage while speaking at the Chabad Bronnaya synagogue in Moscow, Thursday. (AP)
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| By Associated Press January 12, 2006 |
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| A man armed with a knife stabbed and wounded several people in the Chabad Bronnaya synagogue in Moscow Wednesday. (AP) |
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The speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament said Thursday that lawmakers might consider tougher legislation to prevent extremism after an attack on worshippers at a Moscow synagogue that wounded eight men, including three foreigners.
The attack at the Chabad Bronnaya synagogue came amid an increase in the activity of hate groups in Russia and in the number of racist crimes. Jewish leaders said the attack should serve as a clear message to Russian authorities and the public to fight racism.
Russian political parties, religious communities and the Foreign Ministry all condemned the attack.
Parliamentary Speaker Boris Gryzlov said that while Russia had an adequate legal means to fight any form of extremism, "if it does not guarantee the absence of such incidents (as the attack) that means we should consider whether it is necessary to toughen this legislation."
Ekho Moskvy radio reported, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, that investigators had found layouts for Moscow's three main synagogues in the apartment of the suspect, identified as 22-year-old Alexander Koptsev. The Interfax news agency, also citing an anonymous source, reported that investigators had found a piece of paper with the three synagogue's addresses, as well as 14 hunting cartridges and 50 5.6-mm cartridges.
"This was not a game, he was out to kill," said Iosif Ostrovsky, a rabbinical student who said he saw the assailant stab several people - aiming at their necks, heads or upper bodies - in what he called a "well planned attack." He said the man also shouted "Heil Hitler!"
The chief rabbi of the synagogue targeted in Wednesday's attack, Yitzhak Kogan, said that Jews in today's Russia faced a new threat.
"There is no more anti-Semitism on the state level, as we saw in Soviet times, but instead we have a lot of freedom for anti-Semitic groups in Russia, and the incident yesterday was one of its manifestations," Kogan said Thursday as women scrubbed at blood stains that remained on the floors of the synagogue.
Channel One television said that five of the wounded remained hospitalized on Thursday and that three were in serious condition.
Among the eight men wounded were an American and an Israeli citizen, along with a man from the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan, chief Moscow prosecutor Anatoly Zuyev said. He said the attacker "shouted words that showed he was motivated by ethnic and religious hatred."
Zuyev said Koptsev was in custody and faced charges including hate-based attempted murder. It was not immediately clear whether he was a member of any anti-Semitic or neo-Nazi groups, he said.
Russia's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack.
"The provocations of those who would like to bring about discord in Russian society and ignite national and religious dissension, which have not succeeded and will not succeed," the ministry said in a statement.
"We will continue an uncompromising struggle against all manifestations of anti-Semitism, xenophobia and religious intolerance."
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