The Jewish agency "Sohnut", which is engaged in repatriation to Israel, plans to transfer the activities of its Moscow office to Israel and online. The Jerusalem Post writes about it.
According to the newspaper, for this Israel plans to send a negotiating delegation to Moscow, consisting of employees of the office of the prime minister and the ministries of foreign affairs, justice, aliyah and integration. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid instructed its members to be ready to fly immediately after receiving permission from Moscow. They must agree that "Sohnut" could help Russian Jews remotely.
Even if the process of repatriation can be transferred online, the level of repatriation will drop sharply in the coming years, the Jerusalem Post told The Jerusalem Post. Promoting repatriation in Russia will become more difficult, and some people, especially the elderly, will find it difficult to interact with the agency without face-to-face contact.
On July 21, the Moscow Office of the Ministry of Justice demanded the liquidation of the Sokhnut branch. A few weeks earlier, the Russian authorities had demanded that the Jewish agency stop its activities in Russia. The decision came amid growing tensions between Israel and Russia over Jerusalem's stance on the war in Ukraine and its policy of supporting Kyiv.