The Kremlin has released a statement on Tuesday that a move to close in Russia the Agency that processes Jewish immigration to Israel should not be “politicized,” calling it an entirely legal matter.
In a surprise move, a court in Moscow said last week that the Justice Ministry had made a request that the “dissolution” of the Jewish Agency due to unspecified legal violations.
Tens of thousands of Russians have left the nation after President Vladimir Putin sent the military to Ukraine on February 24 and the West slapped unprecedented sanctions against Moscow.
As per the statement released by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday, “The situation should not be politicized or projected onto the entirely of Russia-Israeli ties.”
He added, “There are issues from the point of view of complying with Russian law.”
“The situation should be treated very carefully.”
As per information revealed by several analysts, “the move could be a warning shot from the Kremlin towards Israel’s Prime Minister, Who has taken a tougher rhetorical line over the Ukrainian crisis than his predecessor, and an attempt to slow a brain drain from Russia.
Whereas, the Prime Minister of Israel, Yair Lapid warned Russia over the weekend that shutting the Agency would have “severe” consequences.
The first hearing in this case is due this week.
The Agency, which was established in 1929, played a major role in creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
It began working in Russia in 1989, two years before the end of the Soviet Union, following which hundreds of thousands of Jews from all over the U.S.S.R. left for Israel.
More than 1 million of Israel’s 9.4 million residents today have roots in the former Soviet Union.