MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding a meeting at the Kremlin with the leaders of Russia’s Jewish community.

The head of state is receiving the Chief Rabbi of Russia, Berel Lazar, and the President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FJCR), Rabbi Alexander Boroda. The meeting is timed to coincide with the recently observed International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The Russian leader traditionally holds meetings with leaders of the Jewish community. The last time the president received the Chief Rabbi of Russia and the President of the Federation of Jewish Communities at the Kremlin was in February of last year.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed annually on January 27. This date marks the day in 1945 when the Red Army liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the notorious Nazi concentration and extermination camp in Poland. The term "Holocaust," derived from the Greek word "holocaustosis," meaning "burnt offering" or "destruction by fire," gained widespread usage in the 1950s, notably through the writings of Elie Wiesel, a survivor of Auschwitz.