Moscow has refused repeated requests from Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to open an Israeli cultural center in Russia, for fear it would operate as an intelligence agency, Haaretz quoted Israeli officials as saying.
Lieberman has been trying to obtain Russia's permission for the cultural center, to be run by Nativ - the Israeli Liaison Bureau - in Novosibirsk, Russia's third-largest city, Haaretz said.
At a meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday, Lieberman raised the issue again, promising Lavrov that Nativ is not involved in any espionage work in Russia, the Israeli daily added.
According to Haaretz, Nativ falls under the purview of the Prime Minister's Office and operated in a semi-covert fashion until the Soviet Union's dissolution. During Cold War, the organization was in charge of maintaining contact with Eastern Bloc Jews and encouraging immigration to the Zionist entity. It also gathered intelligence.
In 1989, Nativ offices started operating openly and in the '90s it was officially permitted to operate in Russia. Since then it has ceased from carrying out any covert or intelligence activity, and deals with encouraging Jews to immigrate to Israel.
In recent years, the need to continue Nativ's existence has come into question and officials have suggested dissolving it and transferring its authorities to the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Jewish Agency. Since Lieberman's entering the Foreign office he has taken over Nativ and poured funds into it, becoming in effect responsible for hundreds of thousands of Russian-speaking Jews.
Over the course of the past year, Lieberman has tried to expand Nativ's activities in Russia - including setting up the cultural center in Novisibirsk, in southwest Siberia, home to 12,000 Jews. Russia has not welcomed these steps and responded by restricting the movements of Nativ's envoys in it.
At this week's meeting with Lavrov, Lieberman, accompanied by Nativ head Naomi Ben Ami, tried to persuade Lavrov to permit the opening of the center.
He assured his Russian counterpart that the center would only be used for cultural activities and would have nothing to do with espionage activity. "All we want is to carry out acts to prevent assimilation. We're willing to give you all the information or clarifications you request," Lieberman said.
Lavrov has not agreed to the request.
[Source: Al-Manar TV]
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