Russian citizens living in Israel[edit]
A political party in Israel,
Yisrael Beitenu is one of the most popular choices amongst Russian-speaking Israeli voters.
Hundreds of thousands of Russian-Israeli citizens live in Israel. During Russian elections, the Russian government sets up polling stations across many Israeli cities as well as smaller towns, in order to enable the Russian citizens who are living in Israel to cast their vote. During the 2012, Russian Presidential elections, hundreds of thousands of Russian-Israelis cast their vote in Israel.
[25] Election polls found that in the 2012 election,
Mikhail Prokhorov was the most popular candidate for Russian-Israelis to vote for, with Putin coming in second place. However older Russian-Israelis were more likely to vote for Putin.
[26]
Victory Day in Israel[edit]
Putin meets with Red Army veterans in Israel.
Israel hosts the most extensive
Victory Day celebrations outside of the former USSR.
[27] Due to the large number of Red Army veterans who retired to Israel from FSU countries, the Russian government and military regularly send delegations to meet with the Red Army veterans associations in Israel, as well as to take part in the annual Victory Day events.
[28]
Israeli community of Moscow[edit]
Moscow has the largest Israeli
expatriate community in the world, with 80,000 Israeli citizens living in the city as of 2014, almost all of them native Russian-speakers.
[29][30] Many Israeli cultural events are hosted for the community, and many live part of the year in Israel. (To cater to the Israeli community,
Israeli cultural centres are located in
Moscow,
Saint Petersburg,
Novosibirsk and
Yekaterinburg.)
[31] There are 60 flights a week between Tel Aviv and Moscow.