From: Ron Angell <ronangellwork@yahoo.com>
Subject: Russian firm peddled fake Jewish identities
To: constitutionalsdemocrcacy@democracy.org
Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2009, 5:50 PM

Tamara Timofeeva and Eric Suomalinen allegedly devised a series of ingeniousploys in order to establish the Jewish background of their customers http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russian-firm-peddled-fake-jewish-identities-686101.html Russian firm peddled fake Jewish identities By Patrick Cockburn in Moscow Sunday, 27 May 2001 Share Close Digg del.icio.us Facebook Reddit Google Stumble Upon Fark Newsvine YahooBuzz Bebo Twitter Independent Minds Print Email Text Size Normal Large Extra Large A racket has been uncovered in which gentile Russians were made to seem Jewish so they could emigrate to Israel. A racket has been uncovered in which gentile Russians were made to seem Jewish so they could emigrate to Israel. Police have arrested two managers of a company in St Petersburg and accused them of fabricating evidence of Jewishidentity for fees up to £2,500. Tamara Timofeeva and Eric Suomalinen allegedly devised a series of ingeniousploys in order to establish the Jewish background of their customers. As soon as the first payment was received, staff from the company, Vesta,would start to teach potential emigrants about Jewish religioustraditions, customs and manners. For an additional fee the clients weretaught to speak Russian with a Jewish accent. The next phase of the process was the creation of documents supporting theclaims of the emigrant. These ranged from a certificate from passportoffices to a birth certificate. Staff from Vesta searched cemeteries in St Petersburg for well-kept graves ofJewish women. When one was located, the client and his family weretaken to the cemetery in appropriately sombre clothes and a video wasmade of them grieving at the supposed grave of their relative. Vesta allegedly specialised in manufacturing evidence that its clients' liveswere under threat, by supplying them with anti-Semitic letters. Thesewould say: "Jews, go to Israel," or: "Suitcase, railway station,Israel." The client would take these to the police and ask for a certificate saying that such threats had beenmade. This would be added to the file the potential emigrant submittedto the Israeli consulate. The forged documents, threatening letters and photographs "worked without fail" says the daily Vremya Novostei. It is not known how many Russians made their way to Israel thanks toVesta. The police say they know of 15 families. The exposure will fuelsuspicions in Israel that a decreasing number of arrivals from Russiahave Jewish connections. Almost 900,000 people emigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union between 1988 and 2000on top of 135,000 who had come to Israel in the Soviet period. Some50,000 emigrated last year, of whom 19,000 were Russian and 20,000Ukrainian. Fabrication of a Jewish background is made easier by the fact that nobody knows how many Jews there werein the Soviet Union. The official figure is about a million, but YaronGamburg, the press attache at the Israeli embassy in Moscow, says thisis found to be an under-estimate because so many Jews "had hidden theirnational identity to avoid discrimination". Jews and non-Jews frequently intermarried. The number of Jews still inRussia is estimated to be between 650,000 and a million, with a totalof 1.5 million in the former Soviet Union.