The brothers were born and raised in Vologda, Russia. They built the foundations of their company, Playrix, a mobile game developer that would eventually become one of the world's largest, making them an estimated $16.2 billion fortune. The brothers began to feel unsafe in Russia about a decade ago. They decided to leave after a run-in with the police over the land they had been tricked into buying.
The exit path for the Bukhmans was easy. If you can prove your Jewish roots, you can get Israeli citizenship.
“There is no paragraph in the law of return not to let Jewish oligarchs get Israeli citizenship.”
The "Law of Return", also known as the "Aliyah", grants automatic entry and passports to any Jew who is born in Russia. The man who has accumulated an estimated $7.3 billion fortune from well-timed investments, including early backing of Facebook and Twitter, obtained citizenship in 1999 using a different method. The main reason for wanting the passport was his Jewish heritage and strong personal connection to Jewish culture. His first two daughters were born in Israel. The San Francisco Bay area is where Milner is now based.
More than 40% of the Russian-born billionaires have at least one other passport, according to research by Forbes. Half of Russia's 35 billionaires have dual citizenship. After Cyprus, where 15 billionaires have citizenship thanks to the country's now-defunct citizenship by investment scheme. The UK and Malta have one, but at least 11 have one.
Israel's citizenship program has come under fire due to the war in Ukraine. Three of the most high-profile Russian billionaires are also Israeli citizens. The best known of the three is the owner of the football club. He made a lot of money by selling his stake in the oil giant to Russia's state-owned gas company. In March, he was spotted at a lounge at Israel's international airport, days after he was sanctioned by the UK. Although it is accommodating thousands of Ukrainian refugees, Israel has largely remained neutral in the conflict.
billionaires are not the only ones looking to Israel. Russia's wealthier residents seem to be attracted to the country. Eli Gervits told Forbes that his law firm is seeing 25 times more business than before the war. Gervits says that most of the people that approach us are not from Ukraine. They emphasize the surge of inquiries from business people from the country's capital.
David Angel, who runs a law firm in Tel Aviv that helps people around the world emigrate to Israel, thinks that Russians will have a tough time in the next two years.
One person who wants a passport is the former owner of the Brooklyn Nets. According to Ynet, Prokhorov arrived in Israel on a private jet and has filed the paperwork to get Israeli citizenship. The Israeli government did not respond to many requests from Forbes. Prokhorov is not on the list.
Israeli citizenship has become more appealing since it is harder to get citizenship elsewhere. For a long time, the wealthy and well- connected were able to purchase EU citizenship through golden passport schemes, which gave citizenship to anyone willing to invest a certain amount. Since the start of the war, at least three nations have cracked down on these passports. The parliament of Bulgaria voted in favor of changing the law to end the scheme, which required an investment of at least 500,000 euros. Malta has put its golden passport scheme on hold for Russians and is considering ending it. All of the dependents of the eight oligarchs have their passports revoked by Cyprus.
Unlike other passports that can take years to obtain, it takes just a few weeks to a few months to secure Israeli citizenship, though Gervits says this timeline has been fluctuating because of the war. A person can get a visa if they prove their Jewish heritage to Israel's Ministry of Internal Affairs. If you have a private jet, you can pick up a passport as soon as you get to Israel. The country won't reject applications based on political sensitivity. If a person has a criminal record, a contagious illness or a history of terrorism, they will not be allowed to enter Israel.
Gervits says that the law of return was created in the aftermath of the Holocaust.
Israeli citizenship has other benefits for billionaires. New immigrants to Israel are exempt from paying taxes on their foreign income for 10 years. The country doesn't have its own sanctions law, meaning there are no legal procedures in place to enforce them. Israeli leaders have made it clear that the country will not be used as a haven for the wealthy to escape sanctions.
“Because of Abramovich–and others–the Israeli authorities are upset and they’re trying to make it harder (to get citizenship).”
Austria and Spain have similar paths for people of Jewish ancestry. The law that gives descendants of Sephardic Jews who were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in the late 15th century the right to claim citizenship in Portugal has been in the news recently. In April 2021, he added an EU passport to his rolodex. The arrest of the rabbi who helped him in his application has sparked a flurry of repercussions within Portugal, including an internal inquiry by the government into his application. The city of Porto will no longer work with the Portuguese state to certify applications.
Michael Decker, a partner and Israeli immigration law specialist at Decker Pex Ofir & Co., says that Roman Abramovich ruined their business. The Israeli authorities are trying to make it harder to get citizenship because of him.
Israel is pressing for proof that the Law of Return will actually live in the country, despite the fact that it doesn't have any teeth.
There is opposition to the ability of Russian billionaires to flee to countries like Israel. There are legitimate reasons for billionaires to have a second passport, but some of them have been accused of having ties to the Kremlin.
There is no realistic risk that Russian billionaires will be locked out of Israel. Israel's government may take some steps to make it more difficult to get a passport, but it won't turn to rejecting people for their political connections or background. It is our obligation.
Russian-born billionaires with Israeli citizenship are the most common second passport, according to Forbes. Below is a full list.
Roman Abramovich is from Russia.
The man is Dmitri Bukhman.
The man is Igor Bukhman.
The man is Mikhail Fridman.
Viatcheslav Kantor.
The German Khan is a person.
Alexander Mamut.
Alexander Nesis.
There is a person named Yuri Milner.
Shefler is named Yuri.
Gavril Yushvaev is a person.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
