Putin Pledges Month's Salary to Museum
- By Unknown
- Jun. 06 2007 00:00
Berl Lazar, one of the country's two chief rabbis, told Putin that it was time to implement long-delayed plans by the Jewish community to set up the museum.
"That's a good idea and, as the first step, I will contribute one monthly salary to the museum's construction fund," Putin told the rabbi during a meeting in his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow.
Putin raised the presidential salary to 70,000 rubles ($2,700) per month in 2004 during a spate of salary hikes aimed at stamping out corruption.
Lazar told Putin that the Russian Jewish Museum-Museum of Tolerance should serve as a warning against a return to the past.
"There are people today who want to rewrite history," he said. "The museum will help to show what it was in reality."