Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar seals his lips on politics and puts his people first
“Here behind me,” I said, “you can see the Kremlin. In one of the buildings behind this wall sits President Putin, planning the next step in the war with Ukraine. After a day of visiting and talking to people in Russia, I can say that most of the Russian street supports Putin, but on the other hand, there is media censorship here.”
The words “Putin,” “Ukraine,” and “censorship” — understood in every language — were enough: Two stern-faced policemen hustled over to me. “The phone, please,” they barked. I thought of arguing, but Russia is not an ideal place to get into a tiff with law enforcement.
The Kremlin police demanded that I open the video gallery. “Delete it,” they pointed to the clip I had just taken. Then they made me go into the Recycle Bin and delete it there as well.
“Now, leave the area,” they ordered.
I did. What else could I do? I was just happy that this whole little incident had concluded with the erasure of the video and nothing worse.
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