PM to meet with Russian president for Syria talks

Kremlin: Netanyahu to meet with Putin in Moscow on Tuesday; two leaders expected to discuss Russian-Syrian arms sale.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
PM Netanyahu with Russian President Putin 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
PM Netanyahu with Russian President Putin 370
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in Moscow amid concerns that Russia could deliver advanced air defense missiles to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Kremlin said in a statement on Monday, according to AFP.
"It is expected that major attention will be paid to the current situation in the Middle East, first and foremost in Syria," the Kremlin said.
According to a diplomatic source, Netanyahu will meet Putin at his residence in Sochi on the Black Sea coast.
Russia on Friday denied media reports that it plans to sell Syria an advanced air defense system to Syria.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Israel had informed the United States a Russian deal is imminent to sell advanced ground-to-air missiles that would significantly boost Syria's ability to stave off intervention in the conflict.
The newspaper quoted US officials as saying they were analyzing the information, but would not comment on whether they believed the sale of S-300 missile batteries was near.
Itar-Tass news agency quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying Russia would be fulfilling contracts it has already concluded with Damascus but that this did not include sales of the S-300 system.