In an unprecedented move Russian President Vladimir Putin this week admitted for the first time that anti-Semitism continues to rage in his country, nearly 15 years since the end of the communist era.

Speaking in Poland at the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp by the Red Army, Putin branded anti-Semitism a “disease” and said he is embarrassed by its continuing presence in Russia.

Although Jews were mistreated throughout much of the Soviet era, with dissidents sent by Stalin to gulags and Jewish students barred from entry to prestigious universities, Russia is now seen as a modern democratic state.

However, a poll this week by the Levada Foundation found that 59 percent agreed with the sentiment "Russia for Russians”, and a March 2004 study by the Expertiza foundation found 45 percent thought Russia was anti-Semitic while 42 percent said Jews must be barred from power.

Putin and his entourage have still avoided the subject, even as Washington expressed growing alarm over a recent rise of hate crimes against Jews, but this changed with his visit to Auschwitz on Thursday.

Putin embarrassed

The Russian leader told the crowd gathered at Auschwitz: "Just a short time ago, the German chancellor said that he was embarrassed for the past. But this is the past.

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“But we have to be embarrassed of today, because even in Russia, which has done the most to defeat fascism, to liberate Jews, we see frequent signs of this disease," he said to generous applause.

"We are embarrassed of this. We must proclaim in one voice: no one has a right to be indifferent to anti-Semitism, xenophobia and racial intolerance."

The statement is perceived to have come in reaction to a letter signed by 20 parliamentarians demanding that Jewish groups be banned across Russia for their "radical" views. Although the letter has now been officially recalled, it caused outrage amongst Jewish community members and human rights leaders.

Russian media praise Comments

Moscow newspapers, some of them state-run, fawned over what they saw as a courageous and even historic pronouncement.

"Putin is embarrassed by anti-Semitism," the Izvestia daily wrote in a front-page banner headline.
 
"Putin's speech, without doubt, can be viewed in historic terms," the Vremya Novostei daily wrote.