Israeli PM Netanyahu Looks Ahead to ‘Very Important’ Meeting With Putin in Russian Capital This Week
by Algemeiner Staff
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, May 9, 2018. Photo: Sergei Ilnitsky / Pool / File via Reuters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on Sunday on his upcoming sit-down with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“”On Thursday, I will meet in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” the Israeli leader told government ministers at a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. “I will discuss with him the continued strengthening of the coordination mechanism in order to prevent friction between the IDF and the Russian military. These talks are very important and are part of our continuing effort to ensure freedom of action for the State of Israel against Iran and its proxies, which declare their intention of using Syria as a front in their war to destroy Israel.”
On Thursday I will meet in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin. I will discuss with him the continued strengthening of the coordination mechanism in order to prevent friction between the IDF and the Russian military. pic.twitter.com/yZa60gApWZ
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) February 17, 2019
Relations between Jerusalem and Moscow have been clouded in recent months by a mid-September incident in which a Russian military plane was accidentally downed by a Syrian anti-aircraft missile over the Mediterranean Sea, near Latakia. Russia charged that Israel had indirectly caused the mishap by not providing enough advance warning of an IAF operation that was taking place in the area at the time.
Israel and Russia have sought to avoid such occurrences since Moscow’s military intervention in Syria on behalf of the Assad regime in the ongoing civil war in the country began in 2015.
In recent years, the Israeli military has acted numerous times in Syria to thwart Iran’s ambitions there — including the transfer of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah, the Tehran regime’s Lebanon-based Shi’a proxy.
Netanyahu and Putin have talked by telephone several times since September, and also had a face-to-face chat on the sidelines of a World War I armistice commemoration in Paris three months ago.
