Aleksandr Boroda was born on July 2, 1968 in
Moscow to a family of engineers. He spent his childhood in the
Maryina Roshcha District. He graduated from the Moscow College of Transport Construction. In 1986-1987 he was a second-category worker of the geodetic and mine surveying department of "Glavtonnelmetrostroy" (Soviet state-owned railway tunnel and subway construction company). In 1987 he was
conscripted into the
Soviet Armed Forces, served from 1987 to 1989 in
naval aviation. After the army, he returned to his previous place of work, was a shift surveyor, took part in the construction of the
Konkovo,
Tyoply Stan,
Bibirevo, and
Altufyevo metro stations. At the same time, he graduated from the All-Union Correspondence Polytechnic Institute (now part of the
Moscow Polytechnic University) with a degree in
mine surveying. In 1989, while studying at the institute and working, Boroda began to attend
synagogue. From 1993 to 1998, he worked for the Lechaim magazine together with Boruch Gorin, who became the magazine's editor-in-chief and headed the
Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia Public Relations Department. Continuing to work for the magazine, from 1996 to 2000, Boroda was the president of the regional Public Foundation for the Development of Jewish Culture, dealing with the problems of developing Jewish life on a Moscow scale. The foundation was one of the first in Russia to launch broad charitable activities: first of all, extensive monthly regional programs for low-income families, cultural and educational work, educational programs and seminars, and monthly charity concerts.
Berel Lazar, 2018 In 2000, Aleksandr Boroda became the executive vice-president of the
Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, and in 2004 he became a member of the FJCR board. From 2000 to 2007, Boroda worked as the director of the "Ezra" regional public foundation. In February 2008, Aleksandr Boroda was elected president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, and in January 2020 he was re-elected to this position once again.
Activity In 1996, with Boroda's assistance, the construction of the Moscow Jewish Community Center, the largest in
Eastern Europe, began, which was completed in 2000. The opening ceremony of the center was attended by
Russian president Vladimir Putin. and Israeli prime minister
Benjamin Netanyahu at the
Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, January 2018 In 2012, on the initiative of the FJCR president Aleksandr Boroda and Russia's
chief rabbi Berel Lazar, the
Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center was opened in the
Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage building in Moscow, with Aleksandr Boroda as its founder and director. In December 2015, the
Zhukovka Jewish Cultural and Religious Center was opened in the village of Zhukovka,
Odintsovsky District,
Moscow Oblast, under his leadership. Since its founding, Aleksandr Boroda has become the chief rabbi of the Jewish Cultural and Religious Center. In 2015, he became a member of the Jury of the
1st Moscow Jewish Film Festival, and in 2016, the
2nd Moscow Jewish Film Festival. Since 2017, he has been a member of the Public Council of the
Moscow Jewish Film Festival. In November 2016, Aleksandr Boroda was invited to
Paris, where at
UNESCO headquarters the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center received the
Madanjeet Singh Prize for disseminating the ideals of peace and non-violence. In 2018, the Zhukovka Jewish Religious and Cultural Center was awarded the international architectural prize The International Property Awards. The Jewish Cultural and Religious Center won in three nominations at once: "Design of Public Buildings", "Architecture of Public Projects", and "Construction of Public Projects".
Social positions , and Vladimir Putin, March 2016 In January 2015, Rabbi Boroda condemned the vandals who desecrated the on
Poklonnaya Hill, and called for friendly relations between representatives of various peoples and religions. In January 2017, Boroda condemned
anti-Semitic the words of the
State Duma Vice Speaker,
Pyotr Tolstoy, who, commenting on the protests against the transfer of
Saint Isaac's Cathedral to the
Russian Orthodox Church, stated that the protests were being carried out by "the descendants of those who destroyed Orthodox churches" who "jumped out from behind the
Pale of Settlement". He called on the leadership of the State Duma and the
United Russia party to give them a proper assessment. Commenting on Tolstoy's statements, Boroda noted that his words "are an old and false, like all similar stories, anti-Semitic myth, and its falsity is obvious to any more or less educated person." Boroda emphasized that the bulk of those who destroyed churches were locals, "the same workers and peasants, and not the mythical "those who jumped out from behind the Pale of Settlement with revolvers". In January 2020, he condemned the glorification of
Nazi criminals in
Ukraine,
Poland and the
Baltic states, stating "what is happening in modern Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic countries regarding the glorification of criminals, the hushing up of the truth is unacceptable and criminal". In September 2020, during the
protests in
Belarus, Boroda called on
Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko not to lose touch with the people, to be more open to all sectors of society, and also wished Lukashenko not to walk around with a machine gun, but to communicate more with the Belarusian people. In May 2021, he criticized and condemned the statements of the
State Duma deputies
Vladimir Zhirinovsky and
Vyacheslav Lysakov, stating "the words of Zhirinovsky and Lysakov are not just xenophobic attacks, but tools with which some politicians broadcast an invented image of a hostile and negative reality in Russian society". Earlier in his speech, Zhirinovsky accused Jews of inciting anti-Semitism, and Lysakov spoke unflatteringly about the singer
Manizha, emphasizing her ethnicity. , with Vladimir Putin, November 2023 In March 2022, against the backdrop of
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Boroda spoke of a "surge in
neo-Nazism in Ukraine", noting that in Ukraine "there is a glorification of criminals guilty of the death of the ancestors of those very Jews". Later, in an interview with
Israeli media, he denied ever speaking out in support of the war against Ukraine and claimed that he had only called for peace. Nevertheless, Boroda criticized the chief rabbi of Moscow,
Pinchas Goldschmidt, who left the country due to the war. He alleged, among other things, that Goldschmidt "views Jews in Russia as second-class people" and is "slandering" the community. In July 2022, as a "supporter of Russia's aggression against Ukraine", he was added to the
Anti-Corruption Foundation list of bribe-takers and warmongers (in the category of "Corrupt opinion leaders and public supporters of Putin") consisting of individuals who "use their religious organizations to promote aggression and mass murder", with a proposal to
impose international sanctions against him. The Ukrainian
National Agency on Corruption Prevention has proposed imposing international sanctions against Boroda, noting that he "supports the
Ukrainophobic tendency in covering up certain incidents, in particular, the missile strike near the
Babyn Yar memorial complex". On May 4, 2022, Aleksandr Boroda condemned the statement of
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, stating "In connection with the current information situation around Mr Lavrov's passage about Hitler's possible Jewish roots, we consider it necessary to call for an end to appealing to the national origin of opponents". Earlier, in response to a journalist's question about how Ukraine can be accused of "Nazification" if its president
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish, Sergey Lavrov said that
Adolf Hitler also had "Jewish blood", and that "the most ardent anti-Semites" are usually Jews. ==References==