An AJC senior leadership delegation visited Russia, Ukraine, Latvia and Lithuania on a week-long diplomatic mission to learn about the new political, economic, and diplomatic realities in these countries, their ties with the U.S. and Israel, and the status of Jewish communities in each country and the threat of anti-Semitism.

Russia In Russia, the delegation met with Minister of Education Fursenko, Deputy Foreign Minister Saltanov, and Metropolitan Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church, among others. The delegation visited the Russian Parliament (Duma) and had discussion with Duma members.

Latvia
The Latvian government gave the AJC diplomatic mission participants a warm welcome, especially from President Vaira Vike Freiberga, who has visited AJC headquarters in New York. The group also met with four Cabinet members, twenty members of Parliament, leaders of the Jewish community, and the American and Israeli ambassadors. In an unscheduled encounter with Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski, who was in Riga on a state visit, he told David Harris that AJC was discussed between him and the Latvian leader. Clearly, AJC has two close friends in the current presidents of Latvia and Poland.

Lithuania
In Lithuania, the AJC diplomatic mission met with Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, Foreign Minister Artis Pabrikis, and engaged in a roundtable discussion with members of Parliament. Lithuanian alumni of AJC's Promoting Tolerance and Project Interchange programs met with the group. The AJC leaders visited and said Kaddish at Panerai Forest, the site of mass graves of Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

Ukraine
An AJC leadership delegation met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and other government leaders during a visit to Kiev, at the end of a four-country diplomatic mission to the former Soviet Union. The prime minister told AJC that the country "stopped wavering" in foreign policy matters following the election of Viktor Yushchenko and spoke of the need to get rid of "Soviet" remnants. In her quest for a Western-oriented foreign policy, she offered support for efforts to combat anti-Semitism and to restitute former Jewish communal property, and assured AJC "we are your partners" in these endeavors. The group also visited Babi Yar, the site of the infamous Nazi massacre in 1941.