President Putin and Prime Minister Netanyahu
Photo: AFP
Putin invites Netanyahu to visit Moscow to watch World Cup final
Prime minister yet to announce decision on whether to accept or decline invitation to July 15 final, which was also extended to other leaders, including PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his country to watch the final game of the World Cup in mid July.
The Israeli prime minister has not yet made a decision on the invitation, which was also extended to other leaders, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
If Netanyahu does accept the invitation, he is expected to seek to use the opportunity to meet once again with the Russian leader after holding his last face to face tet-a-tete with him as recently as May.
President Putin and Prime Minister Netanyahu (Photo: AFP)
The final of the World Cup will be played on July 15 in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.
Lines of communication between Netanyahu and Putin have experienced significant activity in recent years, with the two leaders holding a series of meetings in a bid to avoid an accidental clash between Russian and Israeli forces in Syria where the Kremlin is propping up Jerusalem’s foe President Bashar Assad.
In a telephone call at the end of last month, Putin agreed to strengthen coordination on Syria with Netanyahu, according to a Kremlin statement.
They discussed joint efforts to ensure security in the area of the Syrian-Israeli border, the Kremlin said, with Putin seeking Israeli approval to return Assad’s forces back to the southern border on condition that no Iranian forces or Hezbollah terrorists remain in the area.
(Photo: AP)
In May, Netanyahu met with Putin at the Kremlin on a day marking Russia's World War II victory over Germany, stressing to him Iran's similarities to the Nazi regime and Israel's right to defend itself against it.
"We in Israel do not forget for a moment the great sacrifice of the Russian people and the Red Army in the victory over the Nazi monster," Netanyahu remarked at the beginning of their meeting, ahead of a parade commemorating the occasion.
"Neither do we forget the great lesson of the need to stand against a murderous ideology in time," he continued. "It is unbelievable, but 73 years after the Holocaust, there is a country in the Middle East, Iran, that is calling for the destruction of anther six million Jews."
