Unlike other Russian restaurants and businesses targeted in Manhattan, the main island of New York, Bobby Rakhman assures that he was neither threatened nor harassed and that he did not lose the core of its customers.
But, underlines this 51-year-old American of Russian origin to AFP, “we had the feeling that Taste of Russia had become inadequate” for this “first Russian store” in Little Odessa, opened 40 years ago by its parents who arrived in New York as refugees from the Soviet Union in the 1970s.
In the warmth of his grocery store, where Ukrainians who have family in Ukraine work, the “clientele is mixed” and there has never been a conflict, assures Mr. Rakhman. However, he does not want to get involved in any disputes in the streets of this piece of Eastern Europe in the south of Brooklyn, one of the five boroughs of the New York megalopolis.
PHOTO ANGELA WEISS, FRANCE-PRESSE AGENCY
In this renowned neighborhood well beyond the borders of Brooklyn, the majority of the population is Russian-speaking, made up of Jewish immigrants from Europe originating from the Ukrainian “pearl of the Black Sea”, Odessa, today threatened by the Russian army.
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Because even if there were no skirmishes between Russians and Ukrainians in Little Odessa, people “are very angry and sad” and “everyone is talking about the war”, he says.
In this renowned neighborhood well beyond the borders of Brooklyn, the majority of the population is Russian-speaking, made up of Jewish immigrants from Europe originating from the Ukrainian “pearl of the Black Sea”, Odessa, today threatened by the Russian army.
Many Holocaust survivors who have taken refuge in the United States have settled in Little Odessa, part of Brighton Beach, the southern seaside of immense Brooklyn, a cultural and community mosaic.
Russians and Russian-speakers were added to it after the fall of the USSR from 1991.
According to US census figures, 45% of Brighton Beach residents speak a Slavic language at home.
In the streets of this historic district, the signs are in Cyrillic and display flags in the yellow and blue colors of Ukraine.
There are also posters against the war.
“Lost Russian Friends”
PHOTO ED JONES, FRANCE-PRESSE AGENCY
A park in Brighton Beach
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But the conflict has already fractured the population of this middle class of Brighton Beach.
“We have lost a lot of Russian friends here,” said Liliya Myronyuk, a 56-year-old Ukrainian who has lived in Little Odessa for 18 years.
“I live as if at war, for me, it’s war every day,” she confesses to AFP before bursting into tears, referring to the “suffering” of her relatives in Ukraine.
For meme Myronyuk, “a lot of Russians are for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin” even though “the majority of people are in favor of peace”.
Before the US government cut off Russian media, channels like RT were the only sources of news for many older people who don’t speak English.
Liliya Myronyuk, Ukrainian, even admits that if she had to “spend another three days watching Russian TV”, she “would end up hating Ukraine”.
In fact, “the community of Brighton Beach has been the target of Russian propaganda for too long,” said Victoria Neznansky, a 60-year-old psychotherapist who came from Odessa with her parents in 1989.
Now, some residents “don’t know who to believe anymore” and consider Ukraine as “a Western foreign country that betrayed Russia”, she thinks.
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Ana FERNANDEZ
France Media Agency
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Unlike other Russian restaurants and businesses targeted in Manhattan, the main island of New York, Bobby Rakhman assures that he was neither threatened nor harassed and that he did not lose the core of its customers.
But, underlines this 51-year-old American of Russian origin to AFP, “we had the feeling that Taste of Russia had become inadequate” for this “first Russian store” in Little Odessa, opened 40 years ago by its parents who arrived in New York as refugees from the Soviet Union in the 1970s.
In the warmth of his grocery store, where Ukrainians who have family in Ukraine work, the “clientele is mixed” and there has never been a conflict, assures Mr. Rakhman. However, he does not want to get involved in any disputes in the streets of this piece of Eastern Europe in the south of Brooklyn, one of the five boroughs of the New York megalopolis.
“Anger and Sadness”
PHOTO ANGELA WEISS, FRANCE-PRESSE AGENCY
In this renowned neighborhood well beyond the borders of Brooklyn, the majority of the population is Russian-speaking, made up of Jewish immigrants from Europe originating from the Ukrainian “pearl of the Black Sea”, Odessa, today threatened by the Russian army.
–
Because even if there were no skirmishes between Russians and Ukrainians in Little Odessa, people “are very angry and sad” and “everyone is talking about the war”, he says.
In this renowned neighborhood well beyond the borders of Brooklyn, the majority of the population is Russian-speaking, made up of Jewish immigrants from Europe originating from the Ukrainian “pearl of the Black Sea”, Odessa, today threatened by the Russian army.
Many Holocaust survivors who have taken refuge in the United States have settled in Little Odessa, part of Brighton Beach, the southern seaside of immense Brooklyn, a cultural and community mosaic.
Russians and Russian-speakers were added to it after the fall of the USSR from 1991.
According to US census figures, 45% of Brighton Beach residents speak a Slavic language at home.
In the streets of this historic district, the signs are in Cyrillic and display flags in the yellow and blue colors of Ukraine.
There are also posters against the war.
“Lost Russian Friends”
PHOTO ED JONES, FRANCE-PRESSE AGENCY
A park in Brighton Beach
–
But the conflict has already fractured the population of this middle class of Brighton Beach.
“We have lost a lot of Russian friends here,” said Liliya Myronyuk, a 56-year-old Ukrainian who has lived in Little Odessa for 18 years.
“I live as if at war, for me, it’s war every day,” she confesses to AFP before bursting into tears, referring to the “suffering” of her relatives in Ukraine.
For meme Myronyuk, “a lot of Russians are for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin” even though “the majority of people are in favor of peace”.
Before the US government cut off Russian media, channels like RT were the only sources of news for many older people who don’t speak English.
Liliya Myronyuk, Ukrainian, even admits that if she had to “spend another three days watching Russian TV”, she “would end up hating Ukraine”.
In fact, “the community of Brighton Beach has been the target of Russian propaganda for too long,” said Victoria Neznansky, a 60-year-old psychotherapist who came from Odessa with her parents in 1989.
Now, some residents “don’t know who to believe anymore” and consider Ukraine as “a Western foreign country that betrayed Russia”, she thinks.
–
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