A gala-reception organized by the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress First Vice President, ongoing sponsor of the St. Petersburg Hanukkah festivals Mikhail Mirilashvili was hosted as a part of the holidays marked the quarter-century anniversary of the renewal of public Hanukkah celebrations in St. Petersburg. Among the guests at the event, held at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, were the Nobel Prize winner, former Israeli President Shimon Peres, President of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) Ronald Lauder, Israeli Sephardic Rabbi-in-Chief Yitzhak Yosef, the Ambassador of Israel to Russia Dorit Golender, EAJC Secretary General Mikhail Chlenov, WJC Executive Vice -President Robert Singer and other prominent members of the international Jewish community. Vyacheslav Makarov, Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg Chairman welcomed the event participants on behalf of the City authorities.
EAJC President Julius Meinl arrived in St. Petersburg to attend the reception made a congratulatory speech and lit one of seven candles in Hanukkiyah. In his speech, Meinl emphasized the favorable conditions for the existence of the Jewish community in Russia, especially noticeable on the background of discomfort caused by the growing anti-Semitism felt by Jews in several countries of Western Europe.
On the sidelines of the reception, the EAJC President held several working meetings, in particular, discussed EAJC plans for the coming months with the Secretary General of the Congress.