Will the Jews of Russia upload their bank accounts to Israel?

The economic sanctions cause quite a few Russian Jews to recalculate their course.

Sergei Vaschonok, Senior Analyst at BicycleMore Israel: "You do not have to be an analyst to know that there is currently a transfer of savings and bank accounts from Russia to Israel"

Between Ashkenazi

02/03/2022

Wednesday, 02 March 2022, 14:33 Updated: 14:56

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The economic sanctions imposed on Russia affect international trade, but also the pocket of Russian citizens.

Especially on the more established among them, those who have capital or property even outside of Russia and are afraid that it will be frozen or seized.

Another problem of the Russians with the ruble in their pockets is that financial assets in Russian rubles are now worth less than they were worth a few days ago, due to the collapse of the local currency.

Yesterday it was reported that the ruble fell to a rate of $ 107 per ruble, a free fall of about 28% from the rate that was over the weekend (about 84 rubles for only one dollar).

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Roman Abramovich, a Russian Jew with Israeli citizenship.

Following the sanctions, he transferred Chelsea to a trustee (Photo: GettyImages, BEN STANSALL)

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But what about the private accounts of Israeli citizens or those entitled to immigrate to Israel who are in Russia, will these transfer their accounts here?

Last weekend it was reported that the Jewish oligarch - who also holds Israeli citizenship - Roman Abramovich, transferred ownership of the Champions League champions, Chelsea, to a trust, so that the team could function.

But what about the rest?

The Bank of Israel refused to give us official data and a number of speakers we contacted did not really want to talk, even about trends.

Even oligarchs or their representatives, who have a connection to Israel, were not happy to speak, perhaps so as not to be portrayed as having misappropriated funds.

We turned to expert Sergei Vaschonok, a senior analyst at BicycleBar Israel, to try and understand the procedure a little better.

Vashchonok: "I think if I were Russian, I'm not sure I would transfer my money to Israel."

He says, "I would pass it on through a neutral country like Georgia or Azerbaijan to such countries that are still open to any trade with Russia."

Bitcoin.

Contrary to the thought that virtual currencies are under the radar, it turns out that it is actually easy to monitor their movement (Photo: ShutterStock)

You can track bitcoin

Vashchonok adds: "But they have more options. In the global world there are ways to transfer money, at most through Bitcoin."

Indeed, in recent days there has been a lively movement in transfers in digital currencies.

At least according to

, who also pointed to the weakness of virtual currencies: "After all the sanctions, the Russians are looking for alternatives, including crypto. "Traffic and restrict them, so they are likely to encounter a checkpoint there as well."

Immigrants from the Soviet Union in 1990. Are we facing another wave of immigration? (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Are we facing mass immigration?

We went back to Vaschonok to understand if Russian accounts of Israeli citizens have been moving here in recent days, he sounded unequivocal: "Sure it's happening and it's clear to me that it's happening, you don't have to be an analyst to know it's happening. I'll tell you more than that, I think we We will see hundreds of thousands of Russians make aliyah in the coming weeks.

I will tell you a story, a relative of mine arrived two days ago from Moscow, she made aliyah. There are hundreds of thousands of Jews in Russia (about 180,000 according to various Jewish Agency estimates) and I think if you "Taking it in an expanded definition of those entitled to the Law of Return, you will reach more than that, so it is natural that their route will be to Israel, including that of money."

Sergei Vaschonok, Senior Analyst at Bicycle Investment House Israel (Photo: PR)

Before concluding Vaschunok gives a broader look and explains why the path to Israel is paved: "American companies are hardly exposed to Russian companies. But European companies are bound to trade with Russia. In the US it does not happen because in America since the Cold War and even today there is a very strict policy "Everything has to do with corruption and everything that has to do with countries that are not friendly to the United States."

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