The Knesset accuses Moscow of creating artificial obstacles to the payment of pensions to Israelis
On Monday, June 29, the Knesset Committee on Aliyah, Absorption, and the Diaspora held a follow-up meeting regarding the implementation of pension rights for returnees who are entitled to payments from Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union.
Due to U.S. sanctions against Russian financial institutions, tens of thousands of Israelis have been left completely without any legal source of income.
The committee’s leadership issued a firm demand to establish a special interagency working group and to involve the Prime Minister’s Office in resolving the crisis.
According to official data from the committee’s press office, private pension payments from Russia have effectively ceased to enter the Israeli banking system since 2025.
A detailed analysis by the Bank of Israel shows that most of the payments in 2025 were received in January; thereafter, only isolated transfers were recorded, and in the last quarter of 2025, they ceased entirely.
A special audit of Israeli financial institutions confirmed that the transactions were halted at the stage between “Gazprombank” in Russia and “Gazprombank” in Luxembourg after the Russian “Gazprombank” was added to the U.S. sanctions lists.
Diplomatic negotiations between the countries have currently reached an impasse due to the unacceptable conditions put forward by official Moscow.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alex Goldman told the committee: “Israel is continuing its dialogue with the Russian side, but Moscow is proposing to transfer pensions in local currency rather than in dollars, as previously planned.”
To implement this mechanism, Russia is demanding the personal data of pension recipients, which Israel cannot provide. Following an exchange of official letters between Israel and Russia, there has been no progress in resolving the issue so far.
The committee chair, MK Gilad Kariv (“Democrats”), stated that this is not merely a technical issue but also a serious diplomatic problem.
In his view, it is unacceptable for a foreign state to prevent funds from reaching Israeli citizens.
The politician called for the creation of a special interagency working group involving all relevant ministries and agencies to address both the technical and political-diplomatic aspects of the problem.
For his part, MP Yevgen Sova (NDI) emphasized the catastrophic social consequences of this financial blockade for elderly repatriates.
He stated that “the crisis must be resolved on the basis of the 2016 agreement and through serious, discreet negotiations.”
According to him, more than 50,000 people of Russian origin in Israel have not received the pensions they are entitled to for over four years, and many are in dire financial straits.
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