Israel’s ambassador to Russia expected to complete her mission in October: Report

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Israel’s Ambassador to Moscow Simona Halperin is expected to complete her mission in Russia in October, state media reported on Monday.

“The ambassador is expected to leave in October,” Israel’s diplomatic mission in the Russian capital told the state news agency Tass.

Expressing that a new candidate to replace Halperin has not yet been determined, the report, citing the agency's interlocutor, stated that her return to Israel is linked to a new appointment.

The report added that Halperin will head the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s European Department on her return.

Halperin has been serving as Israel’s ambassador to Russia since November 2023 and has assumed various key roles, including leading the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Eurasia and Western Balkans Division and serving as the ministry's deputy director-general, prior to her current post.

Born in Latvia's capital Riga in 1969, which was then within the Soviet Union, she also lived in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, then Leningrad, before immigrating to Israel in 1976.