A district court in Moscow has postponed for one month its hearing of a Justice Ministry request to close down the Russian offices of a prominent Jewish nongovernmental organization.
The Basmanny District Court on August 19 granted a request by the Jewish Agency for Israel for a one-month delay in the proceedings, during which the organization said it would respond to the government’s complaints.
Moscow has accused the organization of unspecified violations of Russian law. According to media reports, however, the government believes the Jewish Agency for Israel illegally collects the personal data of Russian citizens.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied Israeli media reports that Moscow wants to shutter the organization to combat a brain drain that has accelerated since Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February.
The Jewish Agency for Israel, which was founded in 1929 and began working in the Soviet Union in 1989, works to promote Jewish cultural identity and facilitate the immigration of Jews to Israel. It has helped hundreds of thousands of Jews from Russia and other former Soviet countries to immigrate to Israel.
Russia and Israel have discussed the case at the highest diplomatic levels.
Israel has warned that shuttering the organization could harm bilateral relations.