Putin with Sharon: Friday to visit Palestinian areas
Photo: AP
'Russia to beef up Palestinian security'
Putin scheduled to visit Ramallah to discuss ways to help Palestinians beef up security forces, wraps up week-long tour of region
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to discuss ways to help Palestinians strengthen their security forces when he visits the West Bank town of Ramallah on Friday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.
Putin, on a Middle East tour, is due to meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas Friday. Russian and Israeli media have reported Moscow wants to provide two transport helicopters and up to 50 armored vehicles to the Palestinians.
Asked by reporters whether Putin would raise the issue in Ramallah and how Israel might react, Lavrov told reporters in Jerusalem, "This proposal is not for Israel but for the Palestinians in the context of our efforts to strengthen the position of the Palestinian leadership, including its capability to control it's security forces."
Palestinians need better security to rein in militants as part of a nearly three-month ceasefire which Israel declared at a peace summit in Egypt.
Moscow once armed the Palestinians as a key sponsor of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) before the Palestinians reached an interim peace deal with Israel in 1993.
Defense-related deals are a thorny issue for Russia and Israel, already at odds over Moscow's planned sale of vehicle-mounted short-range missiles to Syria - as well as Russia's nuclear cooperation with Iran.
