Putin’s reach into Israel: Russia pursues assets of Jewish oligarchs who fled Moscow

A quiet but increasingly consequential legal battle is unfolding in Israel, where Russian authorities have initiated 22 proceedings against Jewish immigrants from Russia in an effort to seize assets they still own in the country.

The property at stake is estimated by those involved at no less than 2 billion rubles, roughly 70 million shekels.

The proceedings rely on a legal framework established between Israel and Russia in 2018. Under Israeli insolvency law, courts can recognize foreign bankruptcy proceedings, including Russian bankruptcy declarations, as part of rules governing cross-border insolvency.

People familiar with the cases argue that, unlike the United States and European countries that largely stopped cooperating with Russian legal proceedings after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions that followed, Israeli courts continue to recognize Russian judgments in what they describe as an overly technical process.

They claim Israeli courts often act effectively as a “rubber stamp,” sometimes in proceedings involving only one side, without examining in depth the circumstances that led to the Russian case.

Israeli Justice Ministry representatives attend some of the hearings, but those fighting the proceedings say the state has done little to assist immigrants who claim they are being politically persecuted by Russian authorities.

The most prominent figure among the 22 is Boris Spiegel, 73, a former member of Russia’s Federation Council from 2003 to 2013, president of the World Congress of Russian-Speaking Jewry and former owner of the pharmaceutical company Biotek.

Spiegel was arrested in 2021 after arriving in Russia from Israel on a private plane. In 2024, he was convicted of bribing the governor of the Penza region and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Spiegel says the case was fabricated as part of an effort to seize his businesses.

In November 2024, before completing his sentence, he was released because of his serious medical condition and eventually reached Israel.

His former wife, Yevgenia Spiegel, in whose name the family business was registered, was also convicted and sentenced to 8½ years in prison. She remains incarcerated in Russia.

Russian authorities confiscated Spiegel’s property in Russia, which was estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Now, based on his former wife’s bankruptcy declaration in Russia, Russian authorities are also seeking, according to Spiegel, to seize the family villa in Savyon where he lives.

The Israeli proceedings involve a claim worth 202 million rubles, more than 7 million shekels.

Spiegel’s attorney, Mark Knizhevsky, says the recognition process has led to what he calls “draconian” restrictions on Spiegel, even though he is formally only a third party in a case against his former wife.

Those restrictions, he says, prevent Spiegel from making changes to his rights in the property and grant the foreign insolvency administrator automatic investigative authority over him.

“All you need is a final judgment and the appropriate power of attorney to appoint a foreign officeholder who can conduct bankruptcy proceedings, including against property in Israel,” Knizhevsky said.

Spiegel says the pressure on him and other Jewish businessmen intensified following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing economic and political pressure on wealthy Jewish figures.

He and members of his family have approached Israel’s Justice Ministry and are preparing a petition to the High Court of Justice, he said.

During his years as a senator, Spiegel chaired the Israel-Russia Friendship Association and was involved in promoting Israeli interests in Russia and elsewhere in Europe.

Israeli ministers and senior advisers to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly asked him to help open doors in Russia and assist in resolving disputes, according to the report.

He played a role in establishing the World War II memorial in Netanya that was inaugurated by Russian President Vladimir Putin, supported the pension agreement benefiting immigrants from Russia living in Israel and promoted the visa-waiver agreement between the two countries.

His lawyers are now demanding that the Justice Ministry urgently suspend Israel’s recognition of such Russian insolvency proceedings when they are used against Jewish immigrants from Russia.

They want Israel to stop accepting new cases until the next Knesset takes office, when they hope amendments can be introduced to the law.

“The State of Israel abandoned us and is cooperating with Russia,” Spiegel said. “In the past, Jews looked to Israel for help and assistance. Today they are looking to Israel for help and protection.”

“Right now Israel is cooperating with Russia, which is persecuting us. The State of Israel has become an extension of Russia’s arm of persecution,” he said.

Spiegel alleged that the people involved were being targeted because they are Jewish and said Russia had already taken control of their businesses.

“These are very wealthy and powerful people,” he said.

Another person among the 22 is Eduard Kabakov, a Jewish immigrant from Russia who lives in Bat Yam.

Kabakov said that about a year ago, a Russian state insurance company filed a lawsuit against him in Russia seeking roughly $9 million.

He says the case relied on documents containing a forged version of his signature.

According to Kabakov, after he proved the forgery in a Russian court, the lawsuit there was dismissed.

But parallel proceedings in Israel aimed at seizing his apartment have continued, he says, because the underlying Russian proceeding has not formally been closed.

Kabakov also alleges that the Russian judge who handled his case made antisemitic remarks and says he possesses recordings supporting the allegation.

Spiegel now heads a group of 22 wealthy Russian-born Jews facing Russian government-linked legal proceedings in Israel. The group has met at his home in Savyon to discuss how to respond.

A senior Israeli minister said Israel is the only Western country still cooperating with proceedings of this kind.

“Russia uses mechanisms of economic pressure against people and turns them insolvent,” the minister said. “They impoverish people, arrest them and economically destroy people they do not want.”

“If those people have assets in Europe, nobody honors Russia’s request because they understand that it is not clean and that it is political,” the minister said.

“Unfortunately, because Israel signed an agreement with Russia that recognizes its insolvency proceedings, they hired a company to represent them in legal proceedings aimed at stripping people here of their assets, and they divide the proceeds.”

The minister said the practice is expanding because Russia has found what he described as the only Western platform still willing to cooperate.

Russian authorities, he said, may also hope that Israeli judgments could later be used in attempts to pursue assets in Europe.

“It can be assumed that there will be more lawsuits against oligarchs in Israel,” he said. “The Russians have only just begun.”

The Justice Ministry did not respond to requests for comment, despite the presence of ministry representatives at some of the Israeli court hearings.

The Foreign Ministry also did not respond.

The Russian Embassy did not reply to requests for comment.