Days after Russia invaded Ukraine final 12 months, Matvey Kukuy, a know-how entrepreneur, fled the nation for Israel, extra out of disgrace than worry. However when Hamas attacked his new residence two weeks in the past, he did the alternative: Whereas at a convention in Portugal, he booked tickets to return to Israel in one in every of its biggest moments of disaster.
“I felt I used to be on the correct facet of historical past this time,” Mr. Kukuy, 30, stated in a cellphone interview from Tel Aviv.
Mr. Kukuy, who’s from Moscow, was one in every of hundreds of Russians with Jewish heritage, together with many distinguished figures, who left for Israel after the invasion of Ukraine. Some stood in traces in entrance of Israeli diplomatic missions in Moscow, some sought to show their Jewish roots inside Israel. To resettle in Israel, Russians want to indicate that one grownup member of the family has Jewish heritage.
Within the early weeks of 2022, when a Russian invasion of Ukraine appeared imminent, a gradual stream of individuals left Russia. That changed into a flood of such proportions after the struggle began that Russian prosecutors quickly sought to impose an operational ban on a serious Jewish nonprofit company that helps individuals to migrate to Israel. A Russian court docket has but to rule on the matter.
The exodus of Russian households and Israel’s resolution to not endorse the Kremlin’s rationale for the struggle — the false assertion that Ukraine is run by Nazis — strained the connection between the 2 nations.
Nevertheless it additionally highlighted the deep divisions inside Russian society over President Vladimir V. Putin’s resolution to assault Ukraine. 1000’s against the struggle not dwell in Russia. Others — with their voices amplified by the nation’s state-run media — labeled the exiles as treacherous traitors who ought to by no means return to Russia.
The struggle between Israel and Hamas, the armed group that controls Gaza, uncovered the truth that these divisions are deep and enduring.
Lev Sotnikov left Russia shortly after Mr. Putin introduced a call-up of reservists to affix the combating in September 2022. He stated that whereas all wars carry some similarities, the one between Israel and Hamas is totally different from the one in Ukraine as a result of, not like Russia, Israel is “combating for its survival as a state.”
This struggle was additionally a crash course for him on life within the nation, stated Mr. Sotnikov, 37. This summer season, after he settled together with his household within the city of Nahariya, six miles from the border with Lebanon, he felt “completely secure,” he stated.
For the reason that assault by Hamas, tensions have flared within the north close to Lebanon, with some analysts and officers fearing an escalation of hostilities within the space.
“Now I perceive that even when all the pieces will finish,” Mr. Sotnikov stated, referring to the present struggle between Israel and Hamas, “nothing will really finish.”
After Hamas’s assault, many Russian households determined to go away Israel, a minimum of for the preliminary interval of open hostilities. Russian aviation authorities stated on Friday that round 7,000 individuals had flown from Israel to Russia after the assault by Hamas and that round 3,000 had flown again. Russian neighborhood chats in a number of the most important facilities of postwar immigration, comparable to Tbilisi, Georgia, or Yerevan, Armenia, have been stuffed with requests for short-term residences and different assist.
Some Russian exiles in Israel stated they have been stunned that, regardless of deep political divisions, there was a consensus amongst Israelis about the necessity to assist one another and their military.
Yuri Podkopayev, a math trainer who left Russia final November, stated that not like in Russia, in Israel individuals have been free to criticize the federal government however that they have been additionally all united round one trigger — the safety of their nation.
“Nobody questioned Russia’s proper for existence,” stated Mr. Podkopayev, 40. “That’s why there wasn’t any sort of large help of the struggle in Ukraine.”
Nevertheless, even exiles towards the Kremlin’s struggle nonetheless see Russia as their motherland, they stated. Whereas Mr. Podkopayev has settled in Israel for good and is studying Hebrew so he can resume instructing math, he stated that he considers himself to be a patriot of each Russia and Israel.
“I’ve two nations, and I fear about each of them,” Mr. Podkopayev stated. “Certainly one of them is simply severely sick now.”
