New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. with honorees and co-sponsors at his Russian Heritage and Culture celebration in Brooklyn on June 7, 2007. Pictured (back, l to r) are: Vladimir Epshteyn, Founder, Russian-American Voters Educational League and President, Metropolitan Russian-American Parents Associations; Yelena Makhnin, Executive Director, Brighton Beach Business Improvement District; Thompson; Rabbi Itzhak Yehoshua, Chief Rabbi, Bukharian Community of the United States; Oleg Rabinovich, President, Globe Institute of Technology; Leonard Petlack, Kings Bay YM-YWHA; (front, l to r) Susan Milamed, Vice President of Membership and Development, HIAS- Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society;  Boris Kandov, President, Congress of Bukharian Jews of the U.S.A. and Canada; and, Marina Kovalyov, Founder and President, Russian-American Arts Foundation.  Photo Credit: Marla S. Maritzer

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New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. honored four City leaders at his Russian Heritage & Culture celebration in Coney Island, Brooklyn.

The event, held at Metropole Catering Hall, was co-sponsored by the Brighton Beach Business Improvement District, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and the Kings Bay YM-YWHA. You can view photos from the event at www.comptroller.nyc.gov.

“Starting in the city’s earliest days, Russian and Russian-speaking immigrants came to New York seeking opportunity, a safe haven, and a better life for themselves and their children,” Thompson said. “As the great Russian Jewish poet Osip Mandelstam once wrote “by candlelight it’s sweet to dream…of unprecedented Liberty.”
 

Thompson noted his Office’s efforts to assist emigrants who spent their working lives in Russia or other parts of the former Soviet Union who have unable to collect their pensions.

“I know this is a very pressing concern for many immigrants here, some of whom who are owed years of back pension payments from Russia or other former Soviet republics,” Thompson said. “It is a violation of international rules for these governments to refuse to provide former citizens with their pensions.”

Thompson recently wrote to the Russian and Ukrainian Ambassadors to the United States and the Russian Consul General and vowed to continue working with community leaders to resolve the matter.

At the event, Thompson presented awards to:

• Boris Kandov, President of the Congress of Bukharian Jews of the U.S.A. and Canada

• Vladimir Epshteyn, Founder of the Russian-American Voters Educational League, and President of the Metropolitan Russian-American Parents Association.

• Oleg Rabinovich, President and CEO of Globe Institute of Technology.

• Marina Kovalyov, Founder and President of the Russian-American Arts Foundation.

Students from the Kavkaz Mountain Jewish National Traditional Dance Studio performed at the event. Founded in 2003 by Director is Luba Yusufov, the studio offers instruction in the national arts of Azerbaijan to students ranging in age from 4 to 7 years old.

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