Gen. Sergey Shoigu had no sooner flown out of Israel on Wednesday, Oct. 18, than Iranian and Syrian army chiefs talked in Damascus, and Netanyahu was on the phone to Putin.Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the Kremlin press service said in a statement, Wednesday. “There was a thorough discussion of ways to resolve the Syrian crisis, the situation surrounding Iran’s nuclear program and the results of the referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan,” the statement read.
DEBKAfile’s sources report that Netanyahu made the call after Russian Defense Minister Gen. Sergey Shoigu, during his two days of talks with Israel’s government and military heads, showed no inclination to answer Israel’s questions on those pressing topics.
The Russian general quickly grasped that his visit to Israel was strongly disapproved in Damascus and Tehran and both had taken action to disrupt it – first by shooting an SA-5 missile at Israeli aircraft over Lebanon, and then with the unscheduled trip made by the Iranian Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen Mohammad Bagheri to Damascus for talks with his Syrian counterpart Gen. Ali Abdullah Ayoub.
Those moves were meant to warn the Russian minister that the Israeli enemy must not be allowed to attack targets in Syria whenever it sees fit, and it was up to him to stand up for Iranian and Syrian interests in his talks in Tel Aviv and not give in to Israeli pressure.
To avoid falling into this trap, the Russian minister told his Israeli hosts that his visit was only intended to make the acquaintance of professional colleagues in Israel and had no political agenda. He is reported to have elegantly dodged Israeli questions, indicating that they should be addressed to the Kremlin. READ MORE
