Security in Russia has been tightened around synagogues for the Passover holiday, which coincides this year with the birthday of Adolph Hitler. The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FJCR) said it would tighten up security arrangements, as it does every year, "because we receive warnings about possible provocations from law enforcement services," Interfax reported.

In the Ukraine, the Federation is concerned about allegations that Jews actively cooperated with Ukrainian nationalist groups during the Second World War. "There is clear confidence among the Holocaust scholars that Jews had never voluntarily been members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Attempts to unearth such 'facts' have been made for half a century and do not look as sensational to historians because they do not reflect reality," an FJCR spokesman told Interfax.