Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during a meeting in Moscow. Photo: GPO.

Russia will continue to share anti-terrorism information with Israeli leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, according to government-owned news website Sputnik. 

“We will continue to maintain contacts with the Israeli leadership to establish a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East, to share information on the anti-terrorism track,” Putin said according to the site, during a ceremony to hand out credentials to 15 new ambassadors in Russia, including Israel’s.

Putin’s comments came a few days after an Israeli Air Force official said Israel would not shoot down Russian jets that fly into its airspace, especially over the Golan Heights.

Putin met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September to discuss the ongoing civil war in Syria.

According to the Economist, the two leaders agreed that Russia would not harm Israeli strategic interests in Syria, which include preventing weapons from reaching Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Israel would refrain from helping groups fighting to remove Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Separately, IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Yair Golan met with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Bogdanovski in October to discuss coordinating activities in Syria, to avoid unintended clashes.

Turkey, which demands Assad step down to resolve the conflict in Syria, has refused to apologize for shooting down a Russian war plane last Wednesday near the Syrian border.