Photo: Attorenys Maxim Dyatlov (center) and Andrey Grishaev (right) at the trial on the liquidation of the Sokhnut agency in Russia. Photo by Sergey Karpukhin courtesy TASS.

The Jewish Agency for Israel, commonly known as Sokhnut, asked the Moscow court trying the case to postpone proceedings in order to study evidence submitted by Russia’s Justice Ministry. This came after the court rejected Sokhnut’s motion for a two-month period of reconciliation in order to remedy the situation, to which the Justice Ministry objected. The trial will now resume September 19.

Russian authorities claim Sokhnut has violated personal data privacy laws. The Israeli television channel 13Reshet is now saying Russia fears a new brain-drain, since Sokhnut actively works to repatriate Jews to Israel. Russian officials deny that is the case. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov told the media it was purely a matter of compliance to Russian law. President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and Israel’s president Isaac Herzog discussed the case by telephone and decided the relevant courts and government agencies in both countries should deal with the issue. Sokhnut has said they might leave Russia completely and work remotely via telephone and internet there.

Information from RBK television.