Washington: Jewish groups and US politicians have condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for suggesting that the 2016 US presidential election may have been manipulated by Russian Jews.
Putin’s remarks came during a long and occasionally surreal interview with NBC News aired over the weekend, in which he speculated that nearly anyone other than the Russian government could have been behind a program to disrupt the election. US intelligence agencies believe Putin ordered the effort to undermine faith in the US election and help elect Donald Trump as president.
“Maybe they’re not even Russians,” Putin told host Megyn Kelly, referring to who might have been behind the election interference. “Maybe they’re Ukrainian, Tatars, Jews – just with Russian citizenship.”
He also speculated that France, Germany or “Asia” might have interfered in the election – or even Russians paid by the US government.
But his remark about Jews, which seemed to suggest that a Russian Jew was not really a Russian, prompted particular outrage among those who remember Russia’s centuries-long history of anti-Semitism and Jewish purges. Some groups compared the statement to anti-Jewish myths that helped inspire the Holocaust.
“Repulsive Putin remark deserves to be denounced, soundly and promptly, by world leaders,” Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote on Twitter. “Why is Trump silent?”