New Russian law may make Jewish, Israeli orgs ‘foreign agents’

Russia has expanded its definition of “foreign agents,” and it will now include “those who take part in any activity that authorities determine goes against Russia’s national interests or who receive support of any kind, not just money, from abroad,” according to the Moscow Times.

In this case, Jewish representatives from the Jewish Agency or representatives of international Jewish organizations may be categorized as “foreign agents.”

According to the Moscow Times, which quoted the new law, “anyone who has worked with a ‘foreign agent’ or received funding from one will be included in a new Justice Ministry list of people and groups ‘affiliated with foreign agents.’

The Jerusalem Post reported exclusively last week that the Jewish Agency has been under investigation by Russian officials for the past three years, during which information and hardware from their offices were examined closely.

In a letter sent to the Jewish Agency this week, revealed exclusively by Post, the Agency received a list of what the Russian Justice Ministry sees as violations of the law and the consequences of these violations. As reported, a senior Israeli diplomatic official said that “Russia has claimed that the Jewish Agency illegally collected information about Russian citizens.”

“Russia has claimed that the Jewish Agency illegally collected information about Russian citizens.”

Senior Israeli diplomatic official

As every organization would do, especially ones that promote immigration to another country, the Jewish Agency’s offices in Russia collect information about people who apply for aliyah or who participate in their activities.

The fear is that if the Agency has already been under investigation, the new law will create an impossible situation for Jewish and Israeli organizations to work in Russia.

Last week, the ministry indicated that the agency officials in Russia have violated the law, since the information gathered there is shared with its offices in Jerusalem or with Israeli government offices in order to proceed with immigration. The letter stated that the agency should respond to the allegations and may have to cease activities in Russia if found guilty of the charges.

Jewish Agency responds

The Jewish Agency said last week that: “The Jewish Agency wishes to clarify that, contrary to some publications, no directive has been received from the Russian government to terminate our activities. Hence all the plans of the Agency and all the planned activities continue as normal.”

“As part of ongoing control and inspection procedures conducted by the competent authorities in Russia for several years and following an administrative inspection procedure that lasted more than a year, the Agency’s offices in Moscow recently received a letter from the [Russian] authorities,” it said.

The letter mentioned “mainly administrative issues and points to problems that, according to its authors, have been criticized and their possible legal consequences,” it added.

“The letter invites the Agency to respond in writing regarding the facts stated in it. Therefore, the Agency intends to study in depth the meaning of the issues raised and their implications and to address them accordingly in the ongoing conversations with the authorities,” the Jewish Agency said.