Netanyahu tries to bring 'Iran threat' home to Russia
In the last four years Sochi has become a key Russian decision-making center on issues related to the Middle East; Netanyahu has now come there to have a say.
MOSCOW — On Sept. 12 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed for his third trip to Russia this year to meet with President Vladimir Putin. The two previous encounters took place in Moscow in February and April but this time Putin hosted his Israeli counterpart in Sochi — the city that for the last four years have turned into a key Russian decision-making center on issues related to the Middle East.
The meeting had been scheduled some time ago, but two events have somewhat overshadowed the agenda. First, John Bolton’s departure from the position of the national security adviser and, second, Netanyahu’s campaign remarks on the intent to “apply Israeli sovereignty” to the Jordan Valley and adjacent northern Dead Sea — territory in the West Bank that it captured in the 1967 Middle East war and which Palestinians seek for a state.
Shortly afterward, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement reiterating Moscow’s commitment to the two-state solution.
“We share [Arab] concerns about such plans from the Israeli leadership, the implementation of which could sharply escalate tensions in the region, undermine hope for establishing a long-awaited peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors,” the statement reads.
