Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Russia
Russia: its Jewish community, Soviet Jewish emigration, Syria deconfliction and Russian-Israeli oligarchs
Russia was home to 155,000 Jews in 2020, the world's seventh-largest Jewish community, according to the World Jewish Congress (WJC), which says that about 700,000 Jews have emigrated to "Israel" from the former Soviet Union since 1989.[1] In September 2015 "Israel" and Russia agreed a mechanism to avoid clashes between their forces in Syria.[2]
Jewish community
The Russian Jewish Congress and the Federation of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Russia (Va'ad) are the WJC's affiliates; the Jewish Agency for Israel runs programmes for "the revival of Jewish identity".[1]
Chabad
- Main article: Chabad-Lubavitch movement
The WJC describes the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia as the biggest religious Jewish organisation in Russia, representing the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.[1] At a Kremlin meeting on 14 April 2014 its chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, told President Vladimir Putin: "it is thanks to you that we feel at ease and at home in Russia today".[3]
Soviet Jewry and emigration
According to the WJC, the Soviet Union recognised "Israel" immediately in 1948, severed relations in 1967 and restored them only in 1992. Jews engaged in clandestine Jewish activity, known as refuseniks, were imprisoned and denied the right to leave, prompting "Let My People Go" campaigns in the West. Between 1948 and 1989, 218,170 Soviet Jews emigrated to "Israel", 137,134 of them during the détente years of 1972 to 1979; since 1989, 230,000 Russian Jews have emigrated, out of 700,000 from the former Soviet Union as a whole.[1]
The Jewish Agency case
In July 2022 Russia's justice ministry asked Moscow's Basmanny District Court to dissolve the Russian branch of the Jewish Agency, which promotes emigration to "Israel", citing legal violations.[4] Israel's aliyah minister, Pnina Tamano-Shata, said that "the issue of Jewish immigration is not an object for political bargaining".[5]
Israeli state and commercial ties
Diplomacy
The Israeli foreign ministry's 2011 list of missions records relations with the Russian Federation as established in January 1992, with "Israel" represented by its embassy in Moscow.[6] The Israeli embassy is at 56 Bolshaya Ordinka, Moscow.[1]
Syria deconfliction
On 21 September 2015, after meeting Putin near Moscow, Benjamin Netanyahu said that the two leaders had "established a mechanism to prevent those misunderstandings" between Israeli and Russian forces in Syria; he was accompanied by the military chief of staff and the head of military intelligence.[2] Putin told him: "We never forget that many people from the former Soviet Union live in Israel. This gives the relations between our countries an extra dimension."[7] The first round of military talks on the mechanism took place in "Israel" in October 2015.[8] On 17 September 2018 Syrian air defences shot down a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft, killing its 15 crew, during an Israeli air strike; Russia's defence ministry blamed "Israel", which held Syria responsible,[9] and the ministry later said that the Israeli Air Force was "solely to blame".[10]
Arms trade
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) records Russian purchases of Searcher and I-View-150 reconnaissance drones from "Israel" in 2009, and a 2010 order for ten Searcher-2 drones assembled in Russia under the designation Forpost.[11]
Trade
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reports that "Israel" imported goods worth $359.4 million from Russia in 2025 (2024: $237.6 million) and exported goods worth $489.3 million to it (2024: $469.7 million).[12]
Oligarchs and sanctions
- Roman Abramovich was found eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return in May 2018.[13] The British government sanctioned him in March 2022, alongside Oleg Deripaska.[14]
- Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, has been subject to UK sanctions since 6 April 2022.[15]
- The Charity Commission said in 2022 that Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan, three founding trustees of Genesis Philanthropy Group, had been designated under UK sanctions relating to Russia.[16]
Political interference
UN voting
Russia voted in favour of the September 2025 General Assembly resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on a two-state solution.[17]
Ehud Barak emails
The following items come from the two leaked mailboxes of the former Israeli prime minister and defence minister Ehud Barak (ehbarak1@gmail.com and ehud.barak@hyperion-eb.com, 2007–2016). They were hacked and leaked by Handala, a group that Distributed Denial of Secrets describes as "believed to have ties to Iranian intelligence", and were published by Distributed Denial of Secrets in August 2025. The emails carry no cryptographic signatures, and Distributed Denial of Secrets warns that material from such hack-and-leak operations may have been altered.[18]
- Barak corresponded with Viktor Vekselberg and with staff of the Renova Group. On 16 June 2015 Andrey Shtorkh, who described himself as Vekselberg's chief of staff and Renova's vice-president, wrote about arranging a meeting with Barak at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, "as was discussed with Mr.Yakov Tesis".[19] On 31 March 2016 Tesis, writing from a Renova address, sent Barak "the Swift of the duly made payment" under the subject "ERGO payment".[20] On 8 May 2016 Barak congratulated Vekselberg on Victory Day, writing that "the whole world owes the USSR, Krasnia Armia, the Russian great people and even Stalin, a debt which could never be returned".[21]
- In May 2015 the forum's organisers asked Barak to confirm his participation in sessions on the knowledge economy and cyber security; Barak said that he would arrive on the night of 17 June and stay to the end.[22]
Jeffrey Epstein
Documents released by the US Department of Justice in the Jeffrey Epstein files include the following.
- On 9 May 2013 Epstein wrote to Barak: "I think you should let Putin know you will be in Moscow. See if he wants private time."[23]
- On 23 April 2015 Epstein told Barak that he had spoken to "sergey", who "will help", and suggested that Barak send him a note saying stating "that you think Putin and his advisors would benefit from spending some time with Jeffrey to discuss markets", currency and "the financial system in the new world of zero interest rates", and "that I am not political". The email does not identify "sergey".[24]
- On 18 June 2015, during the St Petersburg forum, Epstein asked Barak: "i understand putin will give the keynote tomorw?"[25]
- On 7 April 2018 Epstein sent Barak the text of the US designation of Vekselberg "for operating in the energy sector of the Russian Federation economy".[26]
See also
- Natan Sharansky
- Nativ
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Belarus
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Moldova
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Ukraine
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 World Jewish Congress, Community in Russia worldjewishcongress.org, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Herb Keinon, PM: Israel, Russia establish 'mechanism' to prevent 'misunderstandings' in Syria The Jerusalem Post, 21 September 2015, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ "Meeting with Chief Rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar and President of the Federation of Jewish Communities Alexander Boroda", Kremlin.ru, 14 April 2014.
- ↑ Al Jazeera, Russia's justice ministry seeks to shut Jewish Agency Al Jazeera, 21 July 2022, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ The Jerusalem Post, Russian court considers Jewish Agency liquidation lawsuit The Jerusalem Post, 28 July 2022, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations mfa.gov.il, archived 5 August 2011.
- ↑ Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, President of Russia Vladimir Putin met with Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu (September 21, 2015, Novo-Ogaryovo, Moscow Region) mid.ru, 21 September 2015, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Barbara Opall-Rome, Israel, Russia conclude first round of deconfliction talks Defense News, 7 October 2015, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ BBC News, Russia blames Israel after military plane shot down off Syria BBC, 18 September 2018, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ TASS, Israeli Air Force solely to blame for Il-20 crash — Russian Defense Ministry TASS, 23 September 2018, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database SIPRI, trade register for Israel as supplier, 1950–2025, data generated 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports CBS, December 2025 issue (library copy).
- ↑ BBC News, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich 'eligible to be Israeli citizen' BBC, 28 May 2018, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ HM Government, Abramovich and Deripaska among 7 oligarchs targeted in estimated £15 billion sanction hit GOV.UK, 10 March 2022, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Sanctions Notice, Russia: 17 March 2026, entry for Viatcheslav KANTOR (RUS1127).
- ↑ Charity Commission, "Regulator investigates charity over sanctioned trustees", GOV.UK, 18 March 2022 (page since withdrawn); archived by the Wayback Machine on 18 March 2022.
- ↑ United Nations General Assembly, Recorded vote on A/80/L.1/Rev.1: Endorsement of the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, 12 September 2025 (copy hosted by Al-Quds Al-Arabi).
- ↑ Distributed Denial of Secrets, Ehud Barak emails, 27 August 2025, with download at data.ddosecrets.org, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Email from Andrey Shtorkh to Ehud Barak, "meeting with Victor Vekselberg in St-Petersburg", 16 June 2015, file
ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!14/1 (264).html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 25 October 2026. - ↑ Email from Yakov Tesis to Ehud Barak, "ERGO payment", 31 March 2016, file
ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!1/0000001351-ERGO payment.html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 25 October 2026. - ↑ Email from Ehud Barak to Viktor Vekselberg, "Victory Day", 8 May 2016, file
ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox/0000000381-Victory Day.html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 25 October 2026. - ↑ Emails between Sergey Belyakov and Ehud Barak, "SPIEF 2015", 18–22 May 2015, file
ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!16/1 (25).html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 25 October 2026. - ↑ Email from Jeffrey Epstein to Ehud Barak, "Re: R U awake?", 9 May 2013, EFTA01975333, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 10, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Email from Jeffrey Epstein to Ehud Barak, 23 April 2015, EFTA02503723, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 11, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Email exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Ehud Barak, "Re: touchBase. JE", 18 June 2015, EFTA02496904, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 11, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Email from Jeffrey Epstein to Ehud Barak, 7 April 2018, EFTA02482479, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 11, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 25 October 2026.