PM: Israel to erect Red Army memorial

Netanyahu tells Putin gesture to commemorate crucial role in victory over Nazis.

By HERB KEINON
Netanyahu Putin Moscow 311 (photo credit: Associated Press)
Netanyahu Putin Moscow 311
(photo credit: Associated Press)
Israel will erect a memorial commemorating the Red Army’s crucial role in the victory over the Nazis, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told Russian Prime Minster Vladimir Putin at a photo opportunity before their meeting Tuesday.
Netanyahu said the gesture, which he intends to move forward, is in honor of the 65th anniversary of the victory over the Nazis later this year. This move comes amid growing concern in Russia that their role and sacrifice in the victory over Nazism is increasingly being underplayed.
Putin, saying that it was forbidden to forget the Nazi victims and that the Jews and the people of the former Soviet Union suffered more than anyone else at the hands of the Nazis, said he was currently in discussion with Moscow’s chief rabbi about the possibility of establishing a Holocaust museum in Moscow.
Netanyahu said he hoped the memorial would be erected before Putin’snext visit to Israel, expected with the year, and that at the same timethe Russian prime minister could also take part in the ceremony inwhich Russia would formally take over control of the Sergei courtyardin central Jerusalem.
After saying that Israel and Russia wouldincrease cooperation in a number of spheres, including technology,security and agriculture, Putin joked that he hoped the agriculturalcooperation would add funds to Israel’s Agriculture Ministry so that itcould quickly move out of its offices in the Sergei courtyard.