Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin in Moscow Thursday as part of a state visit amid warming relations between the two countries.
Putin greeted Netanyahu with holiday blessing, wishing Israelis a happy Purim, referencing the Jewish festival celebrated this coming Sunday and Monday.
Ahead of his closed-door meeting with Putin, Netanyahu addressed journalists, discussing shared threats facing the Russian and Israel, as well as the expanding partnership the Prime Minister described between the two nations.
“Our frequent visits reflect genuine friendship and a tightening of relations in economics, technology, tourism and culture, as well as the living bridge of the one million Russian speakers living in Israel. One of them is translating for us now. But in this context, I would like to point out that in recent months we concluded the agreement on pensions between us. I would like to thank you for your personal involvement.”
The Prime Minister singled out the efforts of both Israel and Russia against Sunni terrorist groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda as a central area of cooperation between the two powers. He also made a subtle reference, however, to Moscow’s client state, Iran, and the Tehran regime’s support of Shi’ite terror groups across the Middle East, including Hezbollah. READ MORE
