- Title: JERUSALEM: VISIT: RUSSIAN PRESIDENT PUTIN MEETS ISRAELI PRESIDENT KATSAV.
- Date: 28th April 2005
- Summary: (W2) JERUSALEM (APRIL 28, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. GV/PAN/GV: MILITARY RECEPTION CEREMONY AND RED CARPET AT ISRAELI PRESIDENT'S RESIDENCE; SOLDIERS STANDING TO ATTENTION (2 SHOTS) 0.19 2. MV/PAN: CHURCH REPRESENTATIVES AND DIPLOMATS WAITING TO GREET RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN AND ISRAELI PRESIDENT MOSHE KATSAV 0.25 3. GV: PUTIN AND KATSAV S
- Embargoed: 13th May 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: JERUSALEM
- City:
- Country: Israel
- Reuters ID: LVA47UR64I0XGYZ8XMV6D28LBJ8C
- Story Text: Russian President Valdmir Putin meets his Israeli
counterpart Moshe Katsav in Jerusalem.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his
Israeli counterpart Moshe Katsav in Jerusalem on Thursday
(April 28).
Putin's visit to Israel is an historic one, part of his
three days visit to the region, and he is the first Russian
or Soviet leader to visit the Jewish state.
The two leaders stood side by side as their anthems
were played during a reception for Putin at Katsav's
residence in Jerusalem.
"Russia has made important efforts in the international
fight against terror. The two nations have a mutual and
joint interest. For Israel, it is important to advance
relations with Russia in regards to co-ordinating various
issues," Katsav said, speaking from a podium at the
reception.
However, Israel joined the United States on Thursday
(April 28) in rejecting as premature a proposal by Putin to
host a Middle East peace conference in Moscow.
Putin has said he would raise the offer with Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon later in the day. Their meeting was
also likely to focus on Israel's opposition to Moscow's
help for Iran's nuclear programme and anti-aircraft missile
sale to Syria.
Putin's proposal appeared to be part of his wider plan
to revive Moscow's Cold-War influence in the Middle East --
a status Russia lost after the Soviet collapse.
The overture won immediate backing from the
Palestinians who said such a meeting would help prepare for
statehood talks they hope to hold after Israel's planned Gaza
pullout this summer.
Sharon has said peacemaking charted by a Middle East
"road map" promoted by the United States, Russia, the
European Union and the United Nations would be on hold
until the Palestinians began dismantling militant groups
under the plan's first phase.
Russia has often criticised Israel's handling of the
Palestinian uprising since 2000. Israel has always made
clear it was happy to have its U.S. ally as by far the most
important Middle East peace broker.
Moscow restored relations with Israel in 1991, shortly
before the Soviet Union collapsed. About a quarter of
Israel's 6.7 million people are of Russian origin.
"It is of the upmost importance to get back to the
peace process," Putin said at the welcoming ceremony.
Putin is due to travel to the West Bank city of
Ramallah on Friday (April 29) for talks with Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
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