TEL AVIV – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed in Moscow early on Thursday for a brief trip during which he is expected to discuss Syria and Iran with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A planned event with Moscow’s Jewish community was cancelled and the Israeli premier will now return home on the same day after meeting with his Russian counterpart.
Israeli media reported that the trip was cut short over the indictment announcement that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is expected to make in the coming days. Netanyahu is said to want to be in Israel to deal with any potential fallout when Mandelblit publishes his conclusions on the three corruption cases faced by the prime minister.
Netanyahu said his talks with Putin were “very important” for Israel’s security and would focus on Iran’s attempts to entrench itself militarily in Syria.
“We are taking action against [Iran], we are attacking its bases and we will continue acting against it,” he said.
“We will continue acting until we get the Iranians out of Syria, because Iran is threatening to eradicate Israel and we will not let it have a military base near our border,” he added.
Netanyahu stated that he hoped to strengthen the “important, close and even intimate dialogue with the president of Russia, which is so important for the security of Israel.”
Putin, however, is reportedly seeking to spend at least some of the meeting discussing the conflict with the Palestinians.
The meeting marks the first time the two leaders have sat down for a formal meeting since Russia blamed Israel for the downing of its plane by Syrian air defenses and is also the first face-to-face since the Trump administration announced it was withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria.
Netanyahu has met with Putin more than any other world leader.