Union of Councils for Soviet Jews: Synagogue Attacker Had Moscow Region Synagogue on Hit List

The address of a Moscow region synagogue that has been hit on numerous occasions by neo-Nazi vandals was on the “hit list” of three synagogues found in the apartment of Aleksandr Koptsev--the neo-Nazi whose knife attack on worshippers inside the Bolshaya Bronnaya synagogue in Moscow sent shock waves through the Russian Jewish community. According to a January 17, 2006 report in the national daily Moskovsky Komsomolets, Mr. Koptsev had the address of the Shamir Jewish religious community in Perov, a site that neo-Nazis have already targeted several times. For example, in 2004 someone set the synagogue’s door on fire; shortly afterwards, local youths began to throw stones through the windows, threatening to kill the Jews.