Fri 22 October 2021:
Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett arrived in Russia on Friday for the first time to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin for discussions focused at Iran.
Bennett’s plane landed in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi, where the two will meet, according to Russian official television.
Naftali took office in June, succeeding Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who had been in power for 12 years and had close ties to Putin.
As he left for Sochi on Friday, Bennett said Israel’s relations with Moscow are an “important element” of the country’s foreign policy.
He said this was in part due “to the million Russian speakers in Israel, who constitute a bridge between the two countries.”
Putin’s visit could be one of his final face-to-face meetings with a foreign leader before Russia’s new Covid restrictions take effect next week.
According to the Kremlin, the 69-year-old would forego face-to-face meetings over a nationwide week-long holiday beginning October 30 in order to reduce record virus deaths.
Bennett’s office announced last week that the two will talk about Iran’s nuclear program.
Moscow is a signatory to a 2015 agreement that relieved Iran of sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear capability.
Former US President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018 and reimposed harsh sanctions, prompting Tehran to gradually back out of the agreement’s commitments.
Israel “will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.” Bennett said at the United Nations General Assembly last month.
After Bennett was inaugurated in, Putin praised him, saying that Russian-Israeli cooperation will help strengthen “peace, security, and stability in the Middle East.”
(with agency)
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