Ongoing fighting in the breakaway Caucasus region of Chechnya has prompted the Jewish Agency for Israel to fly 70 more Jewish refugees to Israel.
The refugees, arriving here Sunday night, came to Israel via a new air route from Makhachkala, the capital of Daghestan, an autonomous Muslim republic in the northern Caucasus, located on the Caspian Sea.
Chaim Chesler, head of the Jewish Agency delegation to the former Soviet Union, said the decision to initiate the new flight route came as the result of the growing numbers of refugees from Chechnya. He also noted that the old land route used by Chechen refugees had become difficult and life-threatening because of the ongoing war between Russia and Chechnya that started in late 1994.
As a result of the Jewish Agency’s negotiations with the authorities in Daghestan, it was agreed that immigrant flights would leave on a biweekly basis from Makhachkala, pick up additional immigrants from the Caucasian city of Sochi, and continue on to Israel.
The arrival of the latest group of refugees brings to more than 173 the total number of Chechen Jews who fled the war and were brought to Israel by the Jewish Agency.
Since 1989, some 12,400 olim have reached Israel from Daghestan. More recently, immigration from the region has reached about 150 olim per month.
The new flight connection is expected to accelerate that pace. Some 20,000 Jews remain in Daghestan.
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