OSCE representatives meet with the main Rabbi of Dnipro

Representatives of the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (SMM OSCE) met with Shmuel Kamenetsky, the Chief Rabbi of Dnipro city to discuss the issues of security of national minorities, assistance to refugees from the occupied territories and search for ways to stop armed conflict.

SMM OSCE was represented by the Head of Office in Dnipro, Oleg Starostin (Russia), and the officer-observer Stephen Douglas (USA).

The meeting was also attended by Oleg Rostovtsev, the advisor to Dnipro Mayor on issues of nationalities and religious organizations, the website of Dnipro Jewish community has reported.

During the meeting a number of issues were discussed regarding the dynamics of the level of xenophobia and anti-Semitism in Ukrainian society, the position of Jewish community regarding a number of topical issues, a general assessment of the political situation and the situation in the field of security and human rights. The Chief Rabbi of Dnipro gave a detailed answer to the principled positions of the Jewish community, explaining what was done and is being done to support the Ukrainian society in its movement towards European and Euro-Atlantic integration, cooperation with other ethnoconfessional associations and the processes of formation of modern identity.

The head of the OSCE SMM team asked a direct question about whether the rabbi saw the conditions for putting an end to the armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia and what these conditions were. He received a direct and specific answer to his question. In the course of the conversation, a number of topical issues were touched upon, including those related to recent statements by a former member of one of the political parties and the reaction of the Ukrainian authorities and Ukrainian society. Both sides have confirmed their desire for constant contact and exchange of information of mutual interest.