Translated material
Spiegel's presidency
During the General Assembly, the first vice-presidents of the WCRE were appointed, each of whom headed the continental sections of the congress, vice-presidents for the areas of the organization’s activities, and heads of executive structures. In his speech, the President of the WKRE defined the strategy for the congress over the next five years. It is aimed primarily at uniting immigrants from the countries of the former USSR to support the State of Israel, at protecting the legal rights, socio-political and cultural interests of Russian-speaking Jewry around the world, promoting the integration of Russian-speaking Jews into the Jewish life of their countries of current residence, preserving and developing their cultural identity. Boris Spiegel announced plans to increase the authority and influence of the Congress. The head of the WCRE plans to join the congress as an observer to leading international organizations, including the UN and the Council of Europe.
Speaker of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Sergei Mironov congratulated Boris Shpigel on his re-election. In his address to the participants of the WCRE General Assembly, he emphasized that he was proud that his colleague on the Federation Council heads a “respected international organization.” “I have no doubt at all that your congress will allow us to formulate new approaches that unite all peoples and all countries of the world, and most importantly, we will always take common positions in countering terrorism, xenophobia, the revival of Nazism, and anti-Semitism,” Mironov noted.
The terrorist threat, the glorification of fascism, anti-Semitic sentiments, ways to solve these problems—themes that became one of the key topics in Boris Shpigel's keynote speech. These issues, according to the head of the congress, “concern world Jewry and the entire world community today” and have “a huge impact on our work.” The President of the WKRE is confident that Russian-speaking Jewry, represented by his organization, has enough opportunities to help solve these problems at the highest level. First of all, Boris Shpigel believes, the help of Congress may be needed in the negotiation process with the foreign policy departments of the participants in the Middle East settlement process. According to the head of the WCRE, the ultimate goal of such consultations is “isolation of terrorist regimes, especially in the field of cooperation on arms supplies.” The Congress President admitted that he does not expect a quick result, but “a drop wears away a stone.” “This is the security of Israel and its citizens, the protection of civil rights, including religious rights and the rights of national minorities,” the WCRE president emphasized.
Moreover, the organization can be assisted in this work by the WKRE parliamentary club formed several months ago, which united members of Congress - representatives of legislative bodies of different countries. The club included only 11 Knesset members, including two deputy speakers. In total there are several dozen parliamentarians in the structure.
The very idea of creating a parliamentary club belongs to Boris Shpigel, who, having summed up the experience of the members of the WCRE in the legislative sphere, came to the conclusion about the need to join forces. In particular, thanks to the support of the members of the WKRE of the deputies of the Latvian Seimas, it was possible to change the attitude of the Latvian leadership towards the actions of the former SS men and their followers. In Israel, the Wisconsin program was modified in relation to a number of categories of Russian-speaking repatriates, in the United States, legislators achieved the status of the Russian language as an official language in elections, and Russia became the first state in the post-Soviet space to pay pensions to former compatriots who left for Israel after 1992, and established a visa-free regime with this country. Boris Spiegel promised that WCRE will continue to “monitor and, if possible, facilitate the continuation of the negotiation process aimed at resolving controversial problems in the field of pensions and social payments between Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, on the one hand, and Israel and the United States, on the other.” The head of the congress also assured that his organization intends to achieve “financing for the massive construction of cheap housing for repatriates and low-income groups” in Israel and “increasing government assistance” for veterans of the Second World War. In addition, Congress advocates the abolition of such a relic of the Cold War as the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which impedes the development of economic ties between the United States and Russia.
Boris Shpigel called another structure of the WKRE - the public council - no less significant in solving the problems of Russian-speaking Jewry and defending its interests “at various levels.” This, as the head of the congress explained, is “an association of socially significant individuals, figures of art, science and education” - “such people with their authority could support the initiatives of the WKRE.” As, indeed, is the international Jewish business club at the WKRE, the creation of which Boris Shpigel announced at the general assembly. According to the president of the congress, the new formation is aimed at creating a specific business environment for Jewish businessmen and introducing “Jewish Russian-speaking entrepreneurs to the traditions of trusteeship and charity.” The basic principles of the new structure were voiced by the participants of the WKRE business forum, which was held as part of the General Assembly. The main one is assistance from WCRE to entrepreneurs in promoting their business projects in response to businessmen’s support for the humanitarian projects of the congress.