Putin to have talks with Israel’s Netanyahu on May 14

Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 14 will hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will arrive in Russia on a working visit, the Kremlin press service said on Monday. “It is planned that Putin and Netanyahu will exchange views on key aspects of bilateral relations,” the press service said. “It is expected that major attention will be paid to the current situation in the Middle East, first of all, in Syria.” Earlier, a source close to the Israeli government told Itar-Tass that Netanyahu’s talks with Putin would focus on Russian arms supplies to the region, including to Syria. On May 6, the Russian president had a telephone conversation with the Israeli prime minister. The two “discussed the situation in the region, the state of affairs in Syria,” Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said then. Several days before, Western media reported about an Israeli air strike against Syrian targets. Israel provided no official confirmation of these reports. Moreover, foreign media have been reporting that Israel was worried over Moscow’s alleged plans to sell S-300 missile defence systems to Damascus. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov however refuted these reports and said that Russia was only fulfilling its earlier contracts with Syria. Apart from the situation in Syria, Netanyahu wants to discuss with the Russian leaders the Iranian nuclear problem, according to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper. press service said on Monday. “It is planned that Putin and Netanyahu will exchange views on key aspects of bilateral relations,” the press service said. “It is expected that major attention will be paid to the current situation in the Middle East, first of all, in Syria.”