 Polina Zhemchuzhina befriended Golda Meir, who arrived in Moscow in November 1948 as the first Israeli envoy to the USSR.Fluent in Yiddish, Zhemchuzhina acted as translator for a diplomatic meeting between Meir and her husband, the Soviet foreign minister.She was arrested for treason in December 1948, as she openly supported the idea of granting the region of Crimea to Jews, consequently being forced into an unwanted divorce from Μolotov.