Knesset Speaker, and former refusenik Yuli Edelstein is slated to address the Russian parliament on Wednesday, making him the first Israeli to speak in front of the body.
Edelstein was born in Soviet Ukraine, and in the late 1970s applied for an exit visa in order to immigrate to Israel. Rejected, he became involved with underground efforts to teach the Hebrew language and was eventually expelled from school, arrested and sent to a Siberian gulag for three years. After his release and aliyah, Edelstein became involved in politics, eventually becoming Minister of Immigrant absorption. 
Speaking with the Jerusalem Post, Edelstein said he was moved by the “special trip” and that he intended to “further develop the excellent ties between our countries, especially the connections between the Knesset and the Russian Parliament.”
He said he couldn’t “ignore the symbolism, which just a few years ago could have seemed like a mirage, that someone who was a prisoner in the Soviet Union would stand on the stage of the parliament in Moscow and speak in Hebrew as the Speaker of the Israeli Knesset.”
Visiting Moscow as part of a Knesset delegation, Edelstein will meet with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, parliamentarians and prominent members of the Jewish community.
