Board of Deputies president Jonathan Arkush is to be part of an international delegation that will meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week.

Speaking on Sunday at the Board’s monthly meeting, Mr Arkush told deputies that he had been invited by the European Jewish Congress, an umbrella organisation of democratically elected Jewish communities in Europe, to travel to the Kremlin and meet the Russian president.

“I will report on it at our next meeting,” he said. “That is, if I am able to present at the next meeting. Hopefully I won’t be detained in Moscow.”

Mr Arkush said the trip would hold particular poignancy for him “as someone who was so committed to helping Soviet Jewry from the age of 14”.

He added: “It is miraculous that, today, people can fly every day on an El Al flight from Russia to Israel.”