Netanyahu, Putin praise military cooperation in Paris
The two leaders spoke to succesful military cooperation, which has helped avert at least one aerial incident, while Russia began arming its bombers with air to air missiles for "defensive purposes."
Putin, likewise, praised the "mechanism of cooperation" which the two sides had established in relation to Russia's military operations in Syria.
In a recent interview on Israel radio, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that a Russian plane had mistakenly entered Israeli airspace, and was not shot down. Ya'alon said the plane entered about 1.5km into Israeli airspace by mistake and immediately turned around back to Syria when the Russians were notified.
Russian military officials had previously held talks with their Israeli counterparts in Tel Aviv after the countries' leaders agreed to establish a mechanism to avoid accidental clashes in Syria.
The IDF confirmed the two-day meeting on "regional coordination" at the time, following a high level meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
The issue of military cooperation has been a sensitive subject for Russia recently, after a Turkish jet downed a Russian fighter-bomber in the vicinity of the Syrian border, saying the jet had breached its airspace.
The row has led to a serious deterioration in the ties between the two countries, with Russia "punishing" Turkey in a number of fields. Putin also signed a raft of punitive economic sanctions against Turkey on Saturday in retaliation for its shooting down of a Russian warplane near the border with Syria. A spokesman for the Russian Air Force also announced that it had begun arming its Su-34 jets with air to air missiles for "defensive purposes."
The Russian military has also deployed the advanced S-400 surface to air missile battery to its base in Western Syria.
