Moscow’s former Chief Rabbi has warned that Russia may block Jews from leaving the country in a revival of Soviet-era repression.

Speaking on Israeli television, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt said: “There is a fear today that the Iron Curtain will close completely and that one day it will become impossible to leave Russia at all.”

Russia “wants Jews to stay”, he added.

The strictly Orthodox leader also claimed that the Jewish Agency for Israel, which organises aliyah globally, is “not popular with the Russian government”.

By the late 1920s, the Soviet Union was sealed off from the rest of the world, with the death penalty later introduced for those who tried to flee.

During the Cold War, many Jews were refused exit visas that would have allowed them to leave for Israel. 

Journalist Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt, Rabbi Goldschmidt’s daughter-in-law, revealed last month that the Chief Rabbi had fled Russia in early March.

He had reportedly been put under “pressure by authorities” to support the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Rabbi Goldschmidt was approached by the Kremlin and Russian security forces when the invasion of Ukraine began in late February and was pressed to back the war, Le Figaro reported.

Ms Chizhik-Goldschmidt said Rabbi Goldschmidt and his wife were: “now in exile from the community they loved, built and raised their children in, over 33 years”.

Speaking on Israel’s Channel 12, the exiled rabbi added: “Some in the community expressed sadness; I think some in the community understood.”