The Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it was unaware of plans by Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Israel and the Palestinian Authority in early February. The Palestinian newspaper al-Quds reported on Thursday that such a visit was in the works, with Putin to meet both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to try and re-start peace talks. Putin has visited Israel twice as president, once in 2005, and then again in 2012. Netanyahu has visited Moscow a number of times as prime minister, the last time being in November of 2013. The Kremlin's website also had no mention of such a visit
(photo credit: The Jerusalem Post)