At a meeting Wednesday with religious leaders in Russia, President Dmitri Medvedev promised to instruct his staff and heads of security regarding policies of foreign clergy in Russia.

�Government officials should not be interfering in religious life unless security concerns are involved,� said Medvedev at the meeting.

Medvedev�s remarks were in response the matter of the recent expulsion of foreign chabad rabbis from Russia, raised at the meeting by the country�s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar.

Last week of Rabbi Tzvi Herschovitz from Stavropol was expelled from Russia, and a week prior to that, Rabbi Yisroel Silberstein from the Primorye region. On both occasions, immigration authorities expelled the U.S. rabbis on technicalities concerning their visa applications.

�For the first time in many years,� said Rabbi Lazar at the meeting, �Jews are beginning to worry about the future of religious life in Russia.

�As financial problems worsen here, there is a tendency among some to look for scapegoats, which leads to xenophobia and fascism. It behooves the government to take effective action,� he said, imploring Medvedev to correct the matter to facilitate the service of foreign rabbis in Russia.

(Source: Lubavitch.com)