Putin Pressures Israel To Transfer Sprawling Christian Site In Jerusalem To Russia

An ancient Christian area inside the walled Jerusalem Old City is at the center of diplomatic tensions between Russia and Israel, and President Putin is now openly requesting that the Netanyahu government hand over owndership to Russia.

The Alexander Courtyard is a 1,300-square-meter located near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Christian Quarter, and is currently front and center of the intense ownership dispute. In the packed and densely populated Old City, land of this size is huge and very significant, considering every little meter of property has been hotly fought over for many decades.

Holy Trinity Cathedral in the Russian Compound, Wiki Commons

The site, also often called simply the Russian Compound, includes the Orthodox Church of St. Alexander Nevsky – named after a 13th-century Russian warrior-prince, and has been at the heart of a long-running legal and diplomatic conflict between Israel and Russia.

The matter was reportedly raised directly during recent discussions between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which led to the PM appointing a special committee of senior Israeli ministers in order to handle the sensitive matter

Officials throughout the drawn-out saga have pointed out that President Putin views the issue as deeply personal, not just political.

Ynet News has reviewed that the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (OPS) has maintained de facto control over the Alexander Courtyard since its establishment in 1890.

Historical Ottoman documents list it as belonging to “the glorious Russian Empire” – though the OPS had also made formal purchase of the property.

But the Russian government has used this Ottomoman historic reference to argue that the land should now fall under Russian state ownership rather than OPS.

The OPS is a scholarly and charitable organization and insists that it is the sole owner, with both sides are appealing to the Israeli government to uphold and recognize their respective rights and claims.

Stillframe of aerial view of the Russian compound.

Putin’s invervention has continued going back at least a half-decade. Adding to the complexity of the legal matter, in 2020 Netanyahu designated the Alexander Courtyard a “holy site” under British Mandate-era law.

In Israeli law this gives the government greater ability to decide on the matter, but the pressure from Moscow has ramped up in the meantime.