to his successor Nikita Khrushchev, Stalin was fomenting the doctors' plot as a pretext for further anti-Jewish repressions.

Stalin publicly condemned antisemitism, although he was repeatedly accused of it. People who knew him, such as Khrushchev, suggested he long harboured negative sentiments toward Jews. It has been argued that antisemitic trends in his policies were fuelled by Stalin's struggle against Leon Trotsky.