"I came to kill"

A shaven-headed Muscovite wounded eight people in a synagogue

The Moscow synagogue on Malaya Bronnaya Street, 6, which has been the target of extremist attacks more than once, yesterday was subjected to a new, completely savage attack. Right during the prayer, a 20-year-old Muscovite burst into its premises and began attacking people with a knife. As a result, eight people were injured. The incident immediately provoked a sharp reaction from the Russian Jewish community, whose representatives made a series of harsh statements.

The incident occurred around 5:30 p.m., when, according to one eyewitness, there were about 40 people in the synagogue. The prayer had just begun when a young man with a shaved head and black boots with thick soles appeared at the door of the synagogue. Shouting, “People like you must be cut,” he began to rush at the parishioners who were next to him. The attacker stabbed randomly. The rabbi of the synagogue, Yitzhak Kogan, managed to detain the criminal. “Hearing the noise, I left prayer, taking my son with me,” Mr. Kogan told a Vremya Novostei correspondent. “In the next room we found people bleeding and a young man with a knife. When he saw us, he tried to run away. Without hesitation, we threw him to the floor and twisted him. At this time, the parishioners called the police and an ambulance.

Eight people were injured in the attack, which lasted only a couple of minutes. Three of them, including the director of the Moscow Jewish Community Center, were sent to the Sklifosovsky Institute in serious condition. They were operated on, and last night, according to doctors, their lives were no longer in danger.

The attacker, according to the Moscow prosecutor's office, turned out to be a 20-year-old resident of the Central District of the capital, Alexander Koptsev. According to some sources, he was drunk at the time of the crime, according to others, he was under the influence of drugs. According to eyewitnesses, he did not smell of alcohol, but he had a blurred look and inappropriate reactions. When the rabbi asked why he did this, the young man replied: “I came to kill.”

The Moscow Prosecutor's Office has opened a criminal case under Art. 111-3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm against two or more persons based on national or religious hatred. The police department said yesterday that, among other things, they have questions for the synagogue’s security service. The police are interested in where the security guards were during the attack and why they did not detain the attacker.

Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar, having learned about what happened in the Moscow synagogue, yesterday interrupted his visit to Israel and flew to Russia. According to the head of the public relations department of the Federation of Jewish Communities, Borukh Gorin, the attack on parishioners in the capital’s synagogue was “the logical conclusion of society’s inaction and lack of reaction to the visible rise of fascism in the country.” “We expect that this incident will force society and the authorities to wake up and understand that the future of Russia is in real danger,” Mr. Gorin said. “The Jewish community will seek to bring this crime under control of the highest authorities of the state.”

This is not the first time that the synagogue on Bolshaya Bronnaya Street has become a target for neo-fascist attacks. In 1994, a grenade was thrown at it, and in 2000, a time bomb was found in the synagogue, which was defused. In April 2003, an explosive device was again discovered near the synagogue building, which was also defused. However, later experts established that it was made by a non-professional and could not lead to serious consequences.

Alexey IVLEV