The head of Russia’s Communist Party awkwardly attempted to disassociate himself from an anti-Semitic statement made last week by a prominent member of his party. Gennady Zyuganov said he disagreed with the views of Viktor Ilyukhin, who said Jews in President Boris Yeltsin’s inner circle were responsible for “genocide” against ethnic Russians. Zyuganov said Russians in Yeltsin’s Cabinet had caused more harm to the country than those ministers widely believed to have Jewish ancestry.
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