Russia and Israel will continue contacts regarding the work of the Jewish Agency in Russia, the Kremlin said in an Aug. 9 statement following a telephone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog, held at the initiative of the Israeli side.
Tensions have escalated over the past few weeks after the Russian Ministry of Justice filed a request in late July to shutter the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Russian branch. The agency, which is tasked with assisting Jews who want to emigrate to Israel, has helped over 238,000 Russian Jews move to Israel since 1989, including more than 16,000 since the war in Ukraine broke out.
