Russia seeks to play down closure of Israel migration agency

Sign at the entrance to a Russian branch of the Jewish Agency for Israel, in Moscow. Photograph: Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters

The Kremlin has insisted its decision to shut down the agency that processes Jewish migration to Israel should not be “politicised”, amid a widening rift between the two countries over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.

Last week Russia’s justice ministry requested the liquidation of the Russian branch of the Jewish Agency, a private charity closely affiliated with the Israeli government that promotes migration to Israel.