The two officials arrived in Israel earlier on Monday and have already met with Director General of the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry, Yuval Rotem, and are scheduled to meet with Israeli security officials as well.Rotem revealed on Twitter that his meeting with the Russian envoy focused on otherwise unspecified "regional issues." He called the discussion "meaningful and insightful."January 28. #Jerusalem. Special Envoy of President for #Syria Aleksandr Lavrentiev and Deputy Foreign Minister of #Russia Sergey Vershinin held talks with the Director-General of @IsraelMFA Youval Rotem and other diplomatic officials. Tomorrow the delegation will continue work pic.twitter.com/QF6cAooVa5
— Russia in Israel (@israel_mid_ru) January 28, 2019
"The arrival of the Russian officials is not a positive sign," Yisrael Beytenu Party leader and former defense minister Avigdor Liberman said in an interview to the Army radio. "When the Russian Foreign Ministry releases a statement of their arrival, it must have been approved by the Kremlin."“The practice of arbitrary strikes on the territory of a sovereign state – in this case, we are talking about Syria – should be ruled out,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week.Putin's special envoy for Syria Lavrentiev had downplayed Russian involvement in Syria in the past by saying that "[Russia] is taking the neighboring countries' interests into consideration, including Israel's."Maariv contributed to this report.Held a productive meeting with #Russia's Special Representative for #Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev & Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Vershinin.We had a meaningful & insightful discussion about a variety of regional issues. pic.twitter.com/hfmuXpv03f
— Yuval Rotem (@Yuval_Rotem) January 28, 2019