The Minister of Finance, Avigdor Lieberman, today (Tuesday) appealed to the Banking Supervision Division of the Bank of Israel, to instruct the banks' managements in the country to allow immigrants who are not subject to Western sanctions, or whose accounts are not - to receive funds from Russia.
Israel Today has also learned that Lieberman has asked the Foreign Ministry to exclude Russia's largest investment bank, Sever-Bank, which is under severe sanctions, so that retired immigrants from Russia will receive their benefits.
We will explain that the State of Israel does not have any clear policy regarding sanctions on Russia and its institutions.
However, the banks themselves use them in a way that harms immigrants - due to cooperation with banks abroad. This creates difficult bureaucracy, and the money left in Russia can not be used by immigrants in Israel who need it.
The remarks were made at a meeting convened today by Lieberman at the Ministry of Finance with the participation of Finance Committee Chairman Alex Kushnir, Supervisor of Banks Yair Avidan, Finance Ministry Director General Ram Blinkov, representatives of the Ministry of Finance, banks, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Nativ. Jews and their families in the former Soviet Union. Lieberman, whose majority of voters are among these immigrants, is concerned about the impact of economic sanctions against Russia on Israeli citizens.
From retirees to businessmen
Since the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine and the decision of the West to impose sanctions on Russian banks, there have been three groups of Israeli citizens who are having difficulty getting their money from Russia.
First and foremost, these are about 55,000 pensioners, who receive their pension from Russia through Social Security, or directly to their bank accounts in Israel or Russia.
The pension is between $ 100 and $ 300 a month.
The second group is about 30,000 new immigrants, most of them wealthy, who have sold their property in Russia and recently immigrated to Israel.
Today they are having a hard time getting their money's worth.
The maximum limit available to them in transferring money from Russia is about $ 10,000 in cash - but not all banks in Israel allow the money to be deposited in their accounts here.
The third group includes Israeli businessmen who are interested in transferring their money from Russia to Israel.
As mentioned, all three groups are not subject to sanctions - so Lieberman's perception has nothing to prevent them from being able to get their money from Russia on a regular basis.
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