Former Chief Rabbi of Moscow Pinchas Goldschmidt told the Guardian that Jews must leave Russia before they are ‘made scapegoats for the hardships caused by the conflict in Ukraine.’

‘When we look back at Russian history, we see that whenever the political system was in danger, the government tried to redirect the anger and discontent of the masses to the Jewish community. We saw this in tsarist times and at the end of the Stalinist regime,’ he said.

According to Goldschmidt, there has been throughout Russia an increase in anti-Semitism while ‘Russia is returning to a new type of Soviet Union, and step by step the iron curtain is lowering again. That’s why I think the best option for Russian Jews is to leave,’ the rabbi said. Goldschmidt also noted that most of the Jewish community in Ukraine left for Germany, Austria and Romania.

The Chief Rabbi of Moscow, Pinchas Goldschmidt, resigned from his position in July 2022 after the expiration of the contract. In early June, his daughter-in-law, Avital Chizhik-Goldshmidt, said the rabbi had left Russia after he came under pressure from the authorities. According to Chizhik-Goldshmidt, he refused to publicly support the entry of Russian troops into Ukraine.

In mid-November, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi told RTVI that since the beginning of 2022, about 40,000 Russians have left for Israel to obtain citizenship or a permanent residence visa.

In July, the Russian Ministry of Justice asked the court to liquidate the Russian branch of the Sokhnut agency, which helps Jews move to Israel. The Ministry of Justice accused the organization of violating the law. 

The Israeli TV channel 13Reshet and the BBC claimed that the two main claims of the authorities against the Sokhnut were the mishandling of the personal data of Russians (collecting and sending them abroad), as well as the brain drain. Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that the requirements of the Ministry of Justice are not related to the brain drain.

On December 20, 2022, the Basmanny Court of Moscow once again postponed the hearing in the Sokhnut case. It should take place on February 17th 2023.