BERLIN (AP) — Germany is easing its immigration restrictions for Jews from Ukraine amid reports of an increase in anti-Semitic incidents there since the crisis broke out.

The German government said Thursday it will give priority to immigration applications from Ukrainian Jews over those from Jews of other ex-Soviet republics and will waive some of the stricter application rules that have been in place since 2005.

After the fall of Communism in 1989, Germany established a generous immigration program for Jews who wanted to leave the ex-Soviet Union because of wide-spread anti-Semitism there. It led to an influx of some 200,000 Jews in the last 25 years and the regulations were tightened in 2005.

The government said it is watching the situation for Jews in Ukraine closely.

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