MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th April, 2019) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will arrive in Moscow on Thursday to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Tuesday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Putin and Netanyahu would "hold short working talks and compare notes" during the latter's one-day brief visit to Moscow on April 4.
The talks were preceded by a phone conversation on April 1, in which the parties discussed Russian-Israeli military contacts and the situation in the middle East. According to the Kremlin, the phone talks were held at the Israeli side's initiative.
This is Netanyahu's second visit to Moscow this year. On February 27, the Israeli prime minister visited the Russian capital for the first time after the fatal crash of the Russian Il-20 plane in Syria in September 2018 that the Russian Defense Ministry holds the Israeli Air Force responsible for.
The key topic of February negotiations was security in the Middle East region with a special focus on Iran. Following the talks, Putin said that the Islamists' defeat was already in sight and suggested to create a working group of stakeholders who would stabilize Syria after the last pockets of terrorist resistance are eliminated. Netanyahu, in turn, said that he and Putin had agreed that the withdrawal of foreign forces from Syria was a common goal for Israel and Russia.
In the wake of the upcoming talks, the Kremlin commented on Netanyahu's reported plan on the Syrian settlement, which allegedly included the withdrawal of Iranian troops from Syria and was presented at the prime minister's talks with US President Donald Trump last week and voiced during February's visit to Russia. The Kremlin noted that if Netanyahu brought a plan for Syria to the talks with Putin, it would be discussed and considered.
The meeting between Putin and Netanyahu comes against the background of Trump's controversial decision to recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which Israel effectively annexed from Syria in 1981.
The US move followed by Netanyahu's two-day visit to Washington on March 25-26, during which Trump signed an order officially recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the disputed territory. The document was condemned by numerous countries, including Russia. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, in particular, said that the decision would undermine prospects for securing a peace deal between Israel and the Arab world. US major allies, such as France, the United Kingdom, and Germany have similarly refused to back the US move.
