The Russian born billionaire Leonid Nevzlin who now lives in Israel has renounced his Russian citizenship due to that country’s actions in Ukraine.
After making his money in the oil business Nevzlin moved to Israel 20 years ago. He was charged in Russia with various crimes related to the prosecution of Mikhail Khodorkovsky – another Jewish Russian businessman prosecuted by the government of Vladimir Putin because he refused to support Putin’s regime – and convicted in absentia.
Nevzlin is a Jewish philanthropist who has served as the head of the Russian Jewish Congress. He was involved in the establishment of the Moscow Jewish Cultural Center and the International Center for Russian and Eastern European Jewish Studies in Moscow. He has also donated to many projects by ORT, the Jewish Agency for Israel and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
“I can’t afford to be a citizen of a country that kills children of other countries and tortures their children who don’t agree with it,” said Nevzlin in a Facebook post about the decision to renounce his Russian citizenship. “I do not want to be an accomplice of a criminal regime and an accomplice in a crime against humanity at least simply possessing the status of a citizen of this state. Which has forever compromised itself as a follower of the fascist regime. “
