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Moscow, Tel Aviv exchange favors as Netanyahu shops for support on US plan

In their second meeting in two weeks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to placate Russian President Vladimir Putin over the US peace plan, but Moscow may see its own merits in the deal.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a fleeting visit to Moscow en route from Washington, where he had taken part in US President Donald Trump’s presentation of his “deal of the century.”

Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin met last week in Jerusalem and the meeting in Moscow is their fifth over the last 12 months. Netanyahu also came to take home US-Israeli national Naama Issachar, who was sentenced to seven and a half years in Russian prison for drug smuggling and drug possession in October. Public opinion in Israel considered the sentence disproportionately harsh, as the offense had not involved any border crossing. Issachar was arrested in the transit zone of the airport on the way from Delhi to Tel Aviv.

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