Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a letter to Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, requesting to transfer the control over the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky to Russian custody.
A day after Israeli officials confirmed that they received a letter from Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin's bid for the historic church has been "at the top of Russia's agenda in its relationship with Israel," Haaretz recently reported.
"We expect the Israeli leadership to assist us to complete the process as is necessary," he added.
Based on the report, an Israeli government source told reporters that the country was handling the matter but had not disclosed any further information.
The Alexander Nevsky Church was built in 1859 on land purchased by Czar Alexander II. The church and its grounds were controlled by the Russian Imperial government until the Russian Revolution of 1917, The Times of Israel reported. In 2020, Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved giving Alexander's Courtyard to Russia as goodwill after the release of Naama Issachar, an Israeli-American woman detained on drug charges in Moscow.
Following the Russian government's registration as the rightful owner of a historic church, the Orthodox Palestine Society of the Holy Land issued a string of appeals against the action, citing that the Russian Federation had been recognized by international bodies and by the State of Israel as a "continuing state" of the former Russian Empire. They argued that the transfer of ownership was political.
Judge Mordechai Kaduri stated in his decision on the appeal that, since Netanyahu had designated Alexander's Courtyard as a "holy site," the only body able to decide upon the matter was the Israeli government. For years, Moscow has sought to secure the Alexander's Courtyard church compound, but the recent district court decision set back its plans by invalidating its claims to the complex, located near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Former Russian prime minister Sergei Stepashin, now chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, told The Jerusalem Post that Russia is "fighting for a return of the compound, and it is very difficult." He alleged that Israel was "playing both sides, playing ping pong" on the issue.
Meanwhile, turning over the church to Russia would be a controversial move in light of other nations seeking sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, according to The Christian Post.
Before the growing diplomatic row over ownership of a historic church in Jerusalem, President Vladimir Putin offered his support to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday through a phone call after Israel joined the bloc of countries that suspended Russia from the UN Human Rights Council over its actions in Ukraine.
The Kremlin confirmed the two leader's discussion over the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, as well as "the problems of the Middle East settlement in the context of escalating tensions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem." Putin also assured Abbas that Russia would provide Palestinians with "Russian wheat, material aid, and other crops" amid the growing price of commodities.
