Flyer telling Ukrainian Jews to register, pay fine is likely a hoax or extortion scheme

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Flyer telling Ukrainian Jews to register, pay fine is likely a hoax or extortion scheme
(Image credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Flyers in Donetsk, Ukraine telling Jewish residents they need to register and pay a fee to pro-Russian separatists are likely a hoax or extortion scheme, TIME reports.

The news spread on Wednesday via a small local website based in eastern Ukraine. The site claimed that three masked men were passing out anti-Semitic flyers outside of a synagogue, which ordered Jewish residents to register with a militia, show proof of property they own, and pay a fee of $50 in U.S. currency. Eventually, the story made its way to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who told reporters in Geneva, "In the year 2014, after all of the miles traveled and all of the journey of history, this is not just intolerable, it's grotesque. It is beyond unacceptable."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.