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Jews are believed to have first arrived in the Caucasus region in the seventh century and since that time the Jewish population of the Russia area multiplied exponentially. Jews, and Judaism itself, suffered greatly under Communist rule and since the fall of the U.S.S.R. more than 1 million Russian Jews are believed to have immigrated to Israel. Today, the Jewish population of Russia stands at approximately 194,000 - the sixth largest Jewish community in the world.
- Early History
- Fourteenth Century
- Under Nicholas I & Alexander II (1825-1881)
- Haskalah in Russia
- Politicization of the Jews
- World War I
- February Revolution
- Under Soviet Control
- 1980 & Beyond
- Relations with Israel
Early History
In the seventh century many Jews from Greece, Babylonia, Persia,
and the Middle East and Mediterranean area immigrated to the Caucasus
and beyond. From the early Middle Ages, Jewish merchants (known in Hebrew as holkhei Rusyah – Russian travelers) traveled through the Slavic
and Khazar lands on their way to India and China. During the first
half of the eighth century, the Khazar’s
converted to Judaism. The Khazar
kingdom essentially became a new Jewish kingdom. Some scholars trace
the origins of Ashkenazi Jews to the conversion of the Khazars. The influence of the Khazar conversions
are significant enough to be a major topic of research for scholars
today.
The kingdom of Jewish Khazars is referred to in ancient
Russian literature as the “Land of the Jews.” There were also Jews living
in Kiev at this time and ancient Russian sources mention the “Gate of
the Jews” in Kiev. Historical records preserve disputations between
the Jews of Kiev and Christian clergy. There are also records of communications
between Jews in Kiev and Jews in Babylonia and Western Europe, including,
in the 12th century, a mention of R. Moses of Kiev corresponding
with Rabbenu Jacob ben Meir Tam and Gaon Samuel b. Ali of Baghdad. In
1237, however, the invasion of the Mongols brought much suffering to
the Jewish communities of Russia.
Fourteenth Century
In the 14th century, the Lithuanians gained control of Western Russia and, in the late 14th century,
were the first to grant privileges to Jewish communities under their
control. It was during this period that many Jews emigrated to the Ukraine
and portions of western Russia. In 1648-1649, the Chmielnicki pogroms
devastated some of these Jews and these pogroms continued for several
centuries. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Russian
Jewry was connected with Polish and Lithuanian Jewry, partially due
to Russia’s annexation of Poland in the late 18th century and the creation of the Soviet Union
in the 20th century.
A 1791 decree confirmed the right of Russian Jews
to live in the territory annexed from Poland and permitted Jews to settle
there. Subsequent conquests and annexations helped ferment the area
known of as “The Pale of Settlement”
created in 1791 to rid Moscow of Jews. Its borders were finalized in
1812 with the annexation of Bessarabia.
Between the 16th and 18th centuries,
Jews either entered Russia illegally or with Polish or Lithuanian permission
due to trade business. Small Jewish communities still existed despite
calls for expulsion, due to the importance Jews played in commerce.
Many Jews were in the Middle Class due to their involvement in business
and commerce. The economic position of the Jews deteriorated with their
confinement to the Pale of Settlement.
When they came under Russian control, the communities were weakened
through a new and disproportionate tax burden. The previously well-off
Jewish community soon led to a life of poverty.
In the 1700s, the Hasidic movement was founded in Eastern Europe to reach out to the Jewish masses.
During the period of transfer to Russian domination, conflicts between
the Hasidim and the Mitnagdim increased. The clash even led to the arrest
of one of the major Hasidic leaders, Shneur Zalman of Lyady in 1798
and transport to St. Petersburg for interrogation. Despite the disagreements,
the Hasidic “courts” and Mitnaggedic yeshivot merged to create a flourishing
and diverse Jewish culture.
Under Nicholas I & Alexander II (1825-1881)
Czar
Nicholas I (reign: 1825-1855) sought to destroy all Jewish life in Russia
and his reign constitutes a painful part of European Jewish history.
In 1825, he ordered the conscription of Jewish youth into the Russian
military beginning at age 12. Many of the youngsters were kidnapped
by “snatchers” (“khapers”) in order to get them to spend their
formative years in the Russian military. This had a significant effect
in lowering the morale of the Russian Jewish community. The Jews that
were not forced to spend decades in the military were often expelled
from their towns and villages.
Some Jews escaped this persecution, however, as the
government encouraged agricultural settlement among Jews. These Jews
were exempt from forced conscription. Many Jewish agricultural settlements
were established in southern Russia and the rest of the Pale of Settlement.
In the 1840s, a network of special schools was created
for the Jews since they had not availed themselves of the opportunity
established in 1804 to study in the regular schools. These schools were
paid for by a special tax imposed on the Jews. In 1844, a decree was
established that the teachers would be both Christians and Jews. The Jewish community viewed the government’s attempt to set
up these schools as a way of secularizing and assimilating the younger
generation. Their fears were not unfounded as the decree to require
Christian teachers was accompanied by the declaration that "the
purpose of the education of the Jews is to bring them nearer to the
Christians and to uproot their harmful beliefs which are influenced
by the Talmud."
In 1844, the Polish-style communities were disbanded
but they were replaced by a new communal organizational structure. A
law was instituted prohibiting Jews from growing pe’ot (“sidelocks”)
and wearing traditional clothes. Nicholas I than divided Jews into two
groups – “useful” and “not useful.” The wealthy merchants and those
essential for commerce were deemed “useful,” all others “non-useful.”
The order granted opposition from the Jewish communities of Western
Europe and worldwide, but was instituted in 1851. The order was delayed
with the Crimean War but the war only led to increased kidnappings of
children and young adults into military service, often never to be seen
again.
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The
reign of Alexander II (1855-1881) resulted in an end to the harsh treatment
of the Jews, but nevertheless new policies were implemented to ensure
the assimilation of the Jews. As Jews began to move out of the Pale
of Settlement, those having a Russian secondary-school education were
granted greater rights, which increased Jewish enrollment in Russian
schools. This led to increased assimilation. Assimilation was somewhat
hindered as Jews in the military were prohibited from receiving the
ranks of officers, which limited the contact between Jew and non-Jew.
Emancipation of the Jews began slowly and assimilation skyrocketed.
As assimilation led to increased visibility of the Jews, this led to
anger among the non-Jewish community. The leading opponents to Jewish
prominence included Russian luminaries such as Ivan Asakov and Fyodor
Dostoyevski. The liberal and revolutionary elements were also opposed
to the increased presence of the Jews. The anti-Jewish strength strengthened
after the Balkan War (1877-1878).
However, between 1850 and the end of the 19th century, the Jewish population in Russia increased substantially due
to a high birthrate and a low mortality rate. In 1850, the number of
Jews in Russia stood at around 2,350,000 whereas it almost doubled to
5,000,000 by the late 19th century. Due to the high birthrates,
competition in traditionally Jewish jobs also increased. The increased
competition resulted in both the development of a Jewish proletariat
and a small Jewish upper class. The increased competition led to economic
diversification, such as Jews leasing alcoholic beverages (then a government
monopoly) and engaging in construction and industrial development. Small
groups of Jews became prominent in the banking industries and began
to penetrate the intelligentsia (academia) and professional positions
(lawyers, doctors, scientists, writers). The emancipation of the serfs
led to a strong demand for land and therefore the government stopped
encouraging Russian agricultural settlement. This land scarcity led
to the Jewish communities migration throughout other parts of the Russian
Empire.
Haskalah in Russia
Unlike in Western Europe, the haskalah, or Jewish enlightenment, preserved Jewish culture and values even
while shifting the Jewish community away from a religious context. The majority of those affected by the haskalah operated
in national or national-religious terms. The somewhat contradictory
ideologies of Zionism and European Yiddish culture both
increased in popularity due to the nationalistic flavor of the haskala.
Yet, initially the maskilim were opposed to Yiddish, but later
a secular Yiddish culture was created by the maskilim. A Jewish
press also emerged in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Russian. The Hevrat Mefizei
Haskalah was founded by wealthy Jews to encourage Russian Jews to learn
Russian and spread the haskalah. The haskalah gradually
influenced the b’tei midrashot (study halls) and yeshivot,
which resulted in many students leaving them and assimilating into the
secular world.
In 1881, Czar Alexander II was assassinated and the
situation for the Jews deteriorated. The assassins encouraged mass rebellions
and the situation in Russia became anarchic and chaotic for everyone.
The Jews were blamed. Pogroms broke out, consisting mostly of looting
but also some murder and rape. The support of the Russian intellectuals
shocked many Jews, especially the assimilated Russian maskilim.
In May 1882, laws were passed blaming the Jews for the pogroms. This
led to restrictions on Jewish landownership, prohibited Jews from living
in villages, and the number of Jews studying in secular schools was
limited to 10% in the Pale of Settlement and 3-5% everywhere else. This
discrimination embittered the Jews to Russian society. In 1891, Jews
were systemically expelled from Moscow. The police strictly applied
the discriminatory laws and the media engaged in unbridled propaganda
against the Jews.
When Nicolas II took over (1894-1918), the situation
for Jews deteriorated. From the Passover pogrom of 1903 on, pogroms
became government policy and reached their peak in October 1905. Russian
rightists authored the “Protocols
of the Elders of Zion,” a major anti-Semitic forgery popular in
some communities to this day. In 1912, a new law passed that prohibited
even the grandchildren of Jews from serving as military officers, despite
the large numbers of Jews and those of Jewish heritage in the military.
The census of 1897 showed that Jews of Russia (numbering 5,189,400)
constituted slightly over 4% of the total Russian population (though
disproportionately about 18% in the Pale of Settlement) but about one-half
of world Jewry.
Politicization of the Jews
As
a consequence to the oppressive policies of the czars and increasing
social freedoms of the Jews, Jews disproportionately joined the ranks
of the Russian radicals. The leaders of the Social-Democrats (Socialists)
included J. Martov and L. Trotsky and the leaders of the Social Revolutionary
Party of Russia were also Jewish. A Jewish workers revolutionary movement
was founded. Workers unions founded by Jews created the Bund.
While
regarding itself as part of the Social Democratic establishment for
all Russians, the Bund took up exclusively Jewish causes, particularly
cultural autonomy for the Jewish masses. The Bund advocated a separate
system of schools, Yiddish as a national language, and the development
of Yiddish press and literature. Another response to the oppression
of the Jews saw its expression in the Zionist movement. The Hibbat
Zion movement brought Zionism into Russia after the pogroms of 1881-1883.
A few of the Jews who fled Russia escaped to Eretz Yisrael.
While
the central organizations of the Zionist movement (such as the World
Zionist Organization) were found in Western Europe, the mass of
members and supports came from Eastern Europe. The Zionist movement
gained massive following among all segments of Russian Jewish society,
secular and religious. Despite, or perhaps due to, the wide support
of the Zionist movement, the Zionist organizations were illegal in Russia.
Yet the Russian Jews made up the majorities of the Second
Aliya and were the founders of the Labor Zionist movement. With
the growth of the Zionist movement and the importance of self-respect
and self-defense in Zionist thought, the next time pogroms hit in 1903,
Jewish youths defended themselves and the Bund, Zionists, and Socialist
Zionists formed self-defense organizations.
The
growth of Zionism led to the spread
of Hebrew. This period saw a tremendous growth in Hebrew and Yiddish
literature and it was in the late 19th and early 20th century that Russia saw great writers such as Hayim
Nachman Bialik, Ahad
Ha'Am, Saul Tchernichowsky, and the Yiddish writers of Shalom Aleichem
and I.L. Peretz. Many great scholarly histories of the Jews were also
written during this time. Yiddish and Hebrew presses also flourished.
There was some conflict between the supports of Yiddish, who saw the
future of Jews as being in Russia, whereas the Zionists saw the Jewish
future in the Jewish homeland of Eretz Yisrael. Shortly after
the Yiddishists proclaimed the superiority of the language and so the
Zionists (who supported Hebrew) and the Bund fought bitterly and the
Jewish intelligentsia split over this aspect of Jewish ideology.
World War I
With the advent of World War I, Russian Jewry felt
that they could increase their substandard role in society if they participated
in the defense of Russia. Over 400,000 Jews were mobilized and about
80,000 served in the front lines. Battles occured in the Pale of Settlement,
where millions of Jews lived. Yet, when the Russian army was defeated,
anti-Semitic commanders blamed the Jews and accused them of treason
and spying for the Germans. Jews were even kidnaped and tried for espionage.
Shortly after the trials, mass expulsions of Jews living near the front
lines were organized. In June 1915, Jews were expelled from northern
Lithuania and Courland.
One month later, the use of Hebrew characters in printing
and writing was prohibited, making it impossible to write both Hebrew
and Yiddish. Western opinion united against the discrimination against
the Jews, which made the procurement of loans from Western countries
difficult. Shortly after, the Russians ceased enforcing the laws relating
to discrimination of the Jews and Jewish refugees from Poland and Lithuania
moved towards central Russia.
Austria and Germany’s conquests in 1915 brought 2,260,000
Jews (40% of Russian Jewry) under military rule. These Jews were freed
from czarist abuses but also cut off from their families and neighbors.
In Russia, the Jewish presses were silenced and Jewish youth were conscripted
into the army. Yet Jews from the rest of eastern Europe were torn from
Russian Jewry leading to social upheavals which affected all facets
of eastern European Jewry.
February Revolution
In early March 1917, Nicholas II abdicated the throne,
ending 300 years of Romanov rule. A provisional government was put in
place. On March 16, 1917, the provisional government abolished all restrictions
on the Jews. Jews were given the change to hold every available public
office and were exposed to newfound freedoms. Anti-Semitism was forced
underground thanks to the newfound freedoms granted by the provisional
government. Thanks to the freedoms granted the Jews, the Revolution
saw tremendous support from the Jews. Jews were active in every aspect
of the Revolution’s political life, obtaining leadership positions in
several parties. The newfound freedoms also allowed Jews to engage in
Jewish nationalist politics. The Zionist movement flourished in 1917
and Zionist youth groups were formed throughout the country. Hebrew
book clubs and press were founded. In November, as news of the Balfour
Declaration reached Russia, Zionist rallies were held in major cities.
A self-defense organization “Union of Jewish Soldiers,” was founded. Joseph Trumpeldor led it.
Only a few months after it was formed, the provisional
government was severely weakened and anarchy reigned. Anti-Semitism,
previously underground, became more prominent. Sporadic pogroms occurred
throughout the Russian empire. In October 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution
crushed the provisional government. Shortly after, Russia was thrust
into a civil war that lasted until 1921. Between October 1917 and 1921,
violent anti-Semitism became widespread. While individual soldiers of
the Red Army attacked Jews, the official policy of the Red Army was
to clamp down on anti-Semitic attacks, resulting in Jewish sympathy
for the Red Army and the Soviet Regime. The White Army, on the other
hand, was filled with Cossacks and officers, the bastions of anti-Semitism.
The White Army was saturated with anti-Semitism and its slogan was “Strike
at the Jews and save Russia!”
Under Soviet Control
As the borders of Soviet Russia sharpened, large numbers
of Jews who had previously been under Russian control found themselves
outside of the Soviet Empire. Only about 2,500,000 Jews remained under
Soviet control. The Bolsheviks rejected anti-Semitism and loosened civil
restrictions on the Jews. Under the influence of influential assimilated
Jews, the Bolsheviks began to see the assimilation of the Jews as the
only solution to “the Jewish problem.” Jewish nationalist expressions,
be they expressions of the Jewish religion or Zionism, were clamped
down upon. While the Bolshevik leaders clamped down on Jewish separatism
their fight against anti-Semitism gained them wide support among the
Jewish masses. Jewish youth enthusiastically joined the Red Army (founded
by a Jew, Leon Trotsky). In 1926, Jews made up 4.4% of the officers
in the Red Army (more than twice their ratio in the general population).
Jewish elites also took part in the administrative rebuilding of the
country. While a small but influential group of Jews helped rebuild
Russia, the Socialist Economic Policies weakened the masses. The Bolsheviks
also set up a special “Jewish section” in government in response to
the fact that millions of Jews were attached to the Jewish religion
and Hebrew language (at least as a language of prayer and Judaism).
The Communists put secular assimilationist Jews in charge in order to
foster hatred towards the Jewish religion, Hebrew, and Zionism, though
temporarily allowing its replacement with secular Yiddish culture. In
August 1919, Jewish communities were dissolved and properties confiscated.
Traditional institutions of Jewish education and culture, such as yeshivot and cheder, were shut down. Hebrew study was prohibited and it
became forbidden to print Jewish books. In 1928, it was forbidden to
even print religious books and Jewish calendars. In 1927, Rabbi J. Schneerson,
the leader of Habad
Hasidism, was imprisoned and expelled from Russia. Yet “underground”
religious activity still continued, though after World
War II, hundreds of Hasidism left Russia to Eretz Yisrael.
The growing restrictions on Jewish religious life strengthened Zionism.
Yiddish was also strengthened by the forming of a
“Jewish proletariat culture.” A Yiddish press and Yiddish newspapers
were established, though the writing of Yiddish was phoneticized into
Russian script so as to cut its ties with Hebrew print. Russians granted
Yiddish official status in that tribunals were held in Yiddish and significant
resources were invested in the development of Yiddish school systems.
After awhile, however, Jewish parents rebelled against these schools
whose only connections to Jewish culture was a few lines of Yiddish
literature and which taught anti-religious sentiment. As the quality
of the schools declined (weak to begin with), they began to disappear.
The disappearance of Yiddish was replaced by cultural
assimilation. Jewish children spoke Russian and attended Russian schools.
Mixed marriage became common. Jews began to play an important role in
Russian cultural life.
Jewish Soviet refusik Anatoly Sharansky
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During World
War II, much of the attempts to persecute the Jews were halted.
When World War II began, Jews played an important part of the Soviet
military effort. Their role in the front lines was disproportionately
higher then other national groups. While much of Soviet Jewry was decimated
in the Holocaust, those
living in Russia proper were mostly spared. After World War II was concluded,
however, the attempts to suppress Soviet Jewry were resumed. Until Stalin’s
death in 1953, Soviet Jews were placed in the gulag and were faced with
significant physical oppression. In 1952, Stalin had a number of leading
Russian Jewish intellectuals murdered in the “Night of the Murdered
Poets.”
Even
after Stalin’s death, the attempt to suppress Judaism and Jewish culture
continued. Jewish books and religious articles had to be smuggled into
the country and attempts to study the books and utilize the religious
articles had to be clandestine. The covert nature restricted access
to Jewish life to only a few individuals. The few Jews who continued
participation in Jewish life were called refusniks,
and were severely punished by the Soviet authorities. By 1965, only
about 60 synagogues remained in all of Russia. It was not until Mikhail
Gorbachev came to power and his policy of glasnost that restrictions
on Soviet Jewry lessened.
After the Six
Day War, Soviet discrimination against Jews increased. Despite the
discrimination, the Six Day War increased Jewish national consciousness.
In 1970, 11 individuals (9 Jewish) tried to hijack an airline in order
to raise world attention to the plight of Soviet Jewry. The hijacking
gave new prominence to the Soviet
Jewry movement. One of the hijackers, Yosef Mendelevich, completely
secular while in Russia, is now a rabbi in Israel.
Jews were viewed as potential enemies by the Soviet
authorities, partly because many Jews had relatives in the United States.
1980 & Beyond
Even
after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia consists of one of the
world’s largest Jewish communities. Russia houses the fourth largest
Jewish community, after the United States, Israel, and France. Moscow
and St. Petersburg, along with other large cities in Russia, contain
thousands of Jews yet few Jews lived in urban regions in Russia until
the 1800s. Most resided in the “Pale of Settlement,” which includes
present-day Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania,
and Poland.
During Soviet rule, the Communist government aimed
to destroy all religious life in the country, which led to significant
assimilation and secularization among the Jewish community. The Soviet
Government did all it could to force the disappearance of Jews as a
separate entity and nationality. During this time, Jews from around
the world rallied to the support of Soviet Jewry. In the 1980s, with
Gorbachev in charge, the restrictions gradually loosed as the Soviet
Union crumbled.
The
population of Russian Jewry is shrinking due to immigration and aging.
Around the time of the fall of the Soviet Union, millions of Jews left
Russia and the former Soviet states. The Jews primarily moved to Israel and the United States. Since 2000, however, immigration has slowed down
and increased effort has been devoted to revitalizing Jewish life in
Russia and the former Soviet Union.
Grand Choral Synagogue
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In 2003, Russia had a network of Jewish schools, which
included seventeen day schools, eleven preschools, and 81 supplementary
schools with about 7,000 students. There are also four Jewish universities.
The major towns have a Jewish presence, with synagogues and rabbis.
The Chabad-Lubavitch hasidic movement has played a significant role
in rebuilding religious Jewish life in Russia. Chabad in Moscow has
opened four schools and is building a seven-story Jewish Community Center.
Jewish studies programs are being added to universities.
The Union of Jewish Religious Communities supports Orthodox institutions and
religious life. The Progressive
(Reform) movement and Masorti
(Conservative) movements are also making significant inroads. Because
the high intermarriage rate during Soviet rule led to many Russians
being of Jewish descent but not halakhically
Jewish (Jewish according to Jewish law), the Progressive Movement
is able to gain among these people, as the Progressives recognition
of patrilineal decent welcomes many who are not halakhically Jewish into the Jewish community.
Many Russian cities print their own Jewish newspaper and other cultural,
social, and religious institutions are expanding. Moscow has five synagogues,
six day schools, yeshivas, and a kosher restaurant.
The growth of Jewish religious institutions in Russia
also provides targets for anti-Semitism.
Signs with anti-Semitic slogans have been posted on roadways. In 2002
and 2003, synagogues and cemeteries have also been desecrated. Some
of these signs even include real and fake bombs. In Moscow, a 28-year-old
student tried to remove one of these anti-Semitic signs and, as a result,
an explosion went off and she sustained serious injuries.
Despite the growing presence of religious institutions
in Russia, however, after years of assimilation most Russian Jews are
not observant and see Jewry solely in terms of ethno-cultural behavior.
After massive waves of immigration in the late twentieth and early twenty-first
centuries, there are approximately 400,000-700,000 Jews in Russia, making
up approximately 0.27-0.48 percent of the Russian population.
 Moscow's
Jewish Museum
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One of the active Jewish communities in Russia is St.
Petersburg. The Grand Choral Synagogue is responsible for the majority
of Jewish culture in the city. St. Petersburg has two Jewish day schools
and Yeshivot for both men and women. A full kosher kitchen and dining
hall serve daily meals both to congregants and to poor citizens.
The synagogue also began a home for poor or orphaned
children in the community. Many of the members of the Grand Choral
Synagogue belong to the community's charity center.
In November 2012, Israeli President Shimon
Peres officially opened a new Jewish Museum and Center of Tolerance
in Moscow. The museum seeks to illustrate Jewish cultural traditions
and customs as well as the history of Russia through the eyes of the
Jewish people. The Center of Tolerance will feature permanent and
temporary exhibits and will serve as a place for dialog on topics
of tolerance, mutual understanding, respect, and intercultural relations.
"This museum is an eloquent declaration of the principles of
tolerance toward people and their freedom," Peres said. "The
museum tells us about two ideologies - communism and Zionism."
During the first four months of 2015, 6,499 Jewish people made Aliyah to Israel from all over the world. Russian Jews made up approximately one quarter of this number, with 1,515 individuals choosing to leave their homes in Russia behind in exchange for a new life in Israel. Only 1,016 Russian Jews made Aliyah during the same time period in 2014.
Relations with Israel
The Soviet Union immediately recognized
Israel in 1948. Ties between the two nations dramatically deteriorated
after Israel allied itself with the West. Ideas about Jews as a nation
also furthered anti-Zionist sentiment. In 1967, the Soviet Union cut diplomatic ties with Israel
and were only reestablished in 1992. Shortly
after the Six Day War,
a massive propaganda campaign was launched in the Soviet Union denigrating
Zionism and Israel, without distinguishing between Zionist and Jew.
After the 1967 War, Jewish
immigration to Israel was ground to a halt. The Soviet Union was
a major arms supplier to the Arab states.
Between 1948 and the early 21st century,
approximately 600,000-700,000 Jews have emigrated to Israel from the
former Soviet Union. Russian immigrants are a dominant part of Israeli
society. In Israel there are several Russian-language newspapers, television
stations, magazines, neighborhoods. Russia is also playing a role in
the Arab-Israeli peace process as a member of the "quartet"
along with the US, UN, and EU. The quartet is the sponsor of the "Roadmap."
Russia's deputy defense minister, Vladimir Popovkin, announced on April 10, 2009 that the Russian Defense Ministry signed a deal with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to buy multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The signed contract included the purchase of the Bird-Eye 400 mini-UAV, I-view MK150 tactical UAV, and Searcher Mk II medium-range UAV with varying ranges of 10 to 250 kilometers. The UAV were purchased to provide the Russian Armed Forces with reliable intelligence through the advanced means of battlefield reconnaissance.
In March 2011, a framework agreement on cooperation was signed between the Russian Federal Space Agency and the Israel Space Agency. The agreement enhances cooperation between the Israeli and Russian space agencies in the fields of space research, observation, navigation, medicine and biology in space, research in advanced materials and launchings.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Israeli Foreign Ministry director-general Dore Gold met in Moscow for two days of talks on February 18, 2016. The two diplomats knew each other from their days serving as their respective countries ambassadors at the United Nations in the late 1990's. Lavrov claimed that Russian officials are interested in working towards creating regional conditions “for the resumption of the peace process between Israel and Palestine in order to achieve our common goal - two states that exist in peace and security with all its neighbors.” Gold and Lavrov discussed a wide range of issues during their meetings, including the situations in Syria and Iran. A formal agreement was signed by the diplomats at the meetings conclusion, pledging mutual cooperation on 14 topics, including defense and strategic planning.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to Russia for meetings with President Vladimir Putin multiple times during April 2016. In a public press conference before heading into a private discussion, Putin told Netanyahu that he is “very happy that we have regular contacts at the highest level.” During the first trip, Netanyahu spoke to Putin about the necessity to prevent the transfer of weapons from Iran to Syria and Iraq, and terror organizations based within. On April 21, 2016, during his second visit to Russia that month, Netanyahu stressed the need for Israeli-Russian security coordination in Syria, to prevent “mistakes, misunderstandings or incidents.” This was in response to reports from various news sources that Russian forces in Syria had fired “at least twice” on Israeli military aircraft recently.
The Russian government made a $1 million purchase of 500 million predatory mites and bumble-bees from Israeli insect company Bio-bee in June 2015, in an effort to cut dependence on foreign produce by improving crop yields. The predatory mites, including the Phytoseiulus persimilis mite and the Amblyseius swirskii mite, come from Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu near Beit She'an and act as a natural pesticide. Bumble-bees were purchased to assist in the pollination and germination of various flowers and fruit trees.
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Israeli responses to terrorism, and used Israel's culture to illustrate steadfastness in the face of adversity during an event on October 28, 2016, hosted by the Valdai International Discussion Club. The Russian leader urged his listeners to “learn from Israel,” stating that Israelis “never let go” and “fight until the end... that is why [they] exist at all.”
During 2015, 6,880 Russian Jews made aliyah to Israel.
Sources: Beyond the Pale: The History of Jews in Russia;
Federation of the Jewish Communities of Russia;
History of the Russian Federation;
February Revolution;
NCSJ;
WJC(World Jewish Congress) Jewish communities of the World;
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
Kremlin photo courtesy of Минеева
Ю. (Julmin);
RiaNovosti (April 10, 2009; November
8, 2012);
Keinon, Herb. “Amid concerns Syrian war may widen, Russia urges Israel to resume peace process,” Jerusalem Post (February 18, 2016);
Arkhipov, Ilya/Ferzinger, Jonathan. “Netanyahu Seeks Putin's Assurance Over Syria in Moscow Visit,” Bloomberg (April 20, 2016);
Opall-Rome, Barbara. “Israel Urges Russia To Tighten Coordination Ties in Syria,” Defense News (April 21, 2016);
Malka Grossman, Michelle. “To Russia With Bugs,” Jerusalem Post, (June 19, 2016);
Fishman, Alex. “Putin cites Israel as positive example in fight against terror,” YNet News, (November 2, 2016);
Moscow Jewish Museum photo courtesy of Russian
Times
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