“Relations with Russia are important to Israel. But the Jewish community in Russia is large, it is important and it comes up in all the diplomatic discussions that we have with the government in Moscow,” said Lapid, who considers the office closings “a serious development that will affect our relations.”
The comments come after the Russian Ministry of Justice alleged that the Jewish Agency, which is responsible for promoting immigration to Israel among other activities, is illegally collecting information on Russian citizens.
But Israel believes that these steps are not due to legal problems, but rather a form of Moscow’s revenge on Jerusalem for its support of Ukraine, according to sources in The Times of Israel.
The Israeli leader confirmed that a delegation of experts is ready to go to Moscow as soon as the Russian authorities agree to deal with the matter..
The delegation will include representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office, the National Security Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, and will be supervised by Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alon Oshbiz. .
The group will travel with a mandate to exhaust all diplomatic avenues, to the highest level if necessary, so that the Jewish Agency can continue to work with Russian Jews.
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