Foreign Minister Yair Lapid warned government ministers not to assist Russian-Jewish oligarchs who have been sanctioned or could be sanctioned in the future, Axios reported.

Lapid’s warning follows a US warning to Israel to ensure that Russian oligarchs sanctioned by the US and European countries are prevented from hiding their money in Israeli banks, according to a Ynet report.

“Don’t commit to anything because it could cause diplomatic damage,” Lapid said, according to the report. “Say you can’t help them and give them the number of the foreign ministry.”

“You have to be very careful because those guys have connections and they can call you on the phone and ask you for things.”

The Bank of Israel is engaging in extensive efforts to ensure such a scenario doesn’t occur, a senior Israeli official told Ynet.

The European Union on Monday added 26 names to its sanctions list, including Jewish Ukrainian-born Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, co-founder of the Genesis Prize and the Russian Jewish Congress. Fridman, who has Israeli citizenship but divides his time between Moscow and London, was the first oligarch to speak out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying that “war can never be the answer.”

In a letter to his staff at his London-based private equity firm based firm LetterOne, first reported by The Financial Times, Fridman wrote:

“My parents are Ukrainian citizens and live in Lviv, my favorite city. But I have also spent much of my life as a citizen of Russia, building and growing businesses. I am deeply attached to Ukrainian and Russian peoples and see the current conflict as a tragedy for them both. This crisis will cost lives and damage two nations who have been brothers for hundreds of years. While a solution seems frighteningly far off, I can only join those whose fervent desire is for the bloodshed to end.”

Shortly later, another oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, also issued a statement calling for an end to the war.

Lapid’s remarks also follow a report that several Israeli institutions wrote a letter to US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides requesting that the US exclude Russian-Israeli oligarch Roman Abramovich from sanctions, noting his generous contributions to Israel and the Jewish people and the negative impact sanctions would have for the Jewish state.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)