Israel’s Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked has instructed the Population and Immigration Authority to grant entry to couples even if only one spouse is an Israeli national. As of Oct. 11, as they hold a valid Russian marriage certificate, Russian non-Jewish spouses will be admitted into Israel regardless of whether they hold an entry visa.

The new instructions are designed to facilitate the entry of couples fleeing Russian’s recent conscription efforts. Non-Jewish spouses will be allowed to enter Israel as tourist without have to wait months for a visa to be processed. Their children will also be allowed to enter. The spouse will have to deposit a guarantee of a yet undetermined 10,000-30,000 shekels and pledge to leave the country once their three-month tourist visa expires.

Jerusalem is preparing for a possible mass immigration of Russian Jews to Israel. The move follows at least two cases of foreign spouses of Russian Israeli citizens being separated from their partners at the airport and sent back to Russia.

On Oct. 3, immigration authorities at Ben Gurion Airport turned back an Israeli citizen's Russian wife and son. Wheelchair-dependent Yulia Eventova and 13-year-old Benjamin Eventov were sent back to Istanbul, their last stop after fleeing Russia. The man, David Eventov, told the press he had tried to explain to the authorities that his wife has multiple sclerosis, is confined to a wheelchair and needs his daily assistance.