Russia’s National Security Adviser Nikolai Patrushev and deputy foreign, justice and public security ministers arrived in Jerusalem Tuesday, Jan. 30, along with senior military and intelligence generals. They came less than 24 hours after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sat down in the Kremlin with President Vladimir Putin. The Russian visitors are the guests of Israel’s National Security Council chief Meir Ben Shabat. They are to hold talks with their Israeli counterparts on questions relating to Iranian’s military presence in Syria and Lebanon and the amendments Israel seeks for the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, of which Russia along with the US and four other world powers were signatories.No announcement was made on the duration of the high-ranking Russian visit.
DEBKAfile’s diplomatic sources note that it is unprecedented for a delegation of such eminence to get organized for a foreign mission in so short a space of time. Putin must have expedited it for three reasons:
- He told Netanyahu that the Iranian and Syrian issues could not be settled in a single conversation and called for a thorough appraisal. To this end, he was sending a high-profile delegation to Israel for a thorough threshing-out of all their aspects.
- Putin saw his chance to create daylight between Israel and Washington’s current posture in Syria which is confrontational.
- Participants in the Jan 29-30 Sochi conference on Syria, which failed, were to be shown that Moscow has multiple options to pursue in Syria. READ MORE
