Bennett to meet with Putin in Russia next week

President Vladimir Putin invited Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to Sochi, the town on the Black Sea where the Russian president has a vacation home.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. (photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS/HAIM TZACH)
Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
(photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS/HAIM TZACH)

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia, next Friday.

They plan to discuss diplomatic, security and economic matters, as well as regional issues, foremost of which is the Iranian nuclear threat, the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Putin invited Bennett to Sochi, the town on the Black Sea where he has a vacation home.

The invitation comes on the heels of a phone call between the two leaders last Thursday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in Moscow on Wednesday. Russia strongly supports reinstating the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which Israel opposes, and the new government in Tehran has been noncommittal about returning to talks. Negotiations would resume soon, Amir-Abdollahian said in a press conference with Lavrov.

 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian hold a joint news conference, in Moscow (credit: Kirill Kudryavtsev/Pool via REUTERS)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian hold a joint news conference, in Moscow (credit: Kirill Kudryavtsev/Pool via REUTERS)

There also have been tensions in the deconfliction mechanism between Israel and Russia in Syria, where the Russian Army maintains a presence. Israel attacks Iranian targets in Syria that could try to establish themselves on Israel’s northern border or transfer weapons to Hezbollah.

In August, the Russian military in Syria said its air-defense systems had shot down 22 of 24 missiles launched by Israel into Syria. Two weeks later, a Russian-made missile launched from Syria landed in central Israel.