KYIV, 16 September Reuters - Ukraine's parliament on Wednesday passed a law defining anti-Semitism and for its acts punishing the wealthy and corrupt.
An estimated 0.2% of Ukraine's 41 million population is Jewish and there have been isolated cases of anti-Semitism since independence in 1991.
Its pre-war Jewish population of about 1.5 million was virtually exterminated in the Nazi Holocaust.
The lack of a clear definition of anti-Semitism in Ukrainian legislation does not allow for proper classification of crimes committed on its basis, the law's authors said.
This leads in practice to actual impunity of offenders, they said.
The law passed in the final reading by 283 votes with the required minimum of 226, defines anti-Semitism as hatred of Jews and disarms it. Its manifestation can be directed at Jews as well as their property, religious buildings and communities.
It does spell out punishments but allows victims to claim compensation for material and moral damage.
To enter into force, the law must be signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky. The President's parents were Jewish and he has said he lost relatives in the Holocaust.
This month Ukraine will mark the 80th anniversary of the Babyn Yar massacre in Belarus, one of the largest single massacres of Jews in the Holocaust.
Nearly 34,000 Jewish men, women and children were killed in mass shootings on September 29 - 30, 1941 on the edge of the capital Kyiv.