It is Netanyahu’s first trip to Moscow since November 2013.
Advertisement
By contrast, U.S. and Russian officials have discussed ways to prevent their forces accidentally coming to blows in Syria, where Washington is conducting air strikes against IS targets.
Israel has said on numerous occasions that it reserves the right of action to prevent state-of-the-art weaponry from being transferred either from Iran to Hezbollah via Syria, or to prevent the “leakage” of similar cutting edge weaponry from the Syrian army to Hezbollah.
Russia’s activity comes as Assad has suffered a series of civil war setbacks in recent months.
Putin wants to focus on the Syria crisis, where Russian Federation is taking an increasingly assertive posture, while Obama’s top issue is the conflict in Ukraine.
On the other hand, the Russian foreign ministry emphasized that Moscow is deploying arms in Syria to launch its independent campaign against ISIL. “It is more than an advisory role”.
The US will cooperate with Russian Federation in Syria if Moscow agrees to work on a political solution in the war-torn country and simultaneously fight against ISIL, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday.
Syrian government forces used newly arrived Russian warplanes to bombard Islamic State insurgents in Aleppo province in northern Syria, a group monitoring the civil war said yesterday, in an attempt to break a siege on a nearby air base.
“By pointing to ISIS as a greater common enemy, he will advocate that the West set aside differences over Ukraine“, Borshchevskaya told JNS.org.
Many Western countries have reacted with alarm to allegations of Moscow’s increased military support for President Bashar al-Assad, whom they oppose.
“Putin is a global threat, and Ukraine”, a former Soviet republic, “is on the front line of that threat”, Parubiy said.
“It will strengthen the perception of Russian Federation as a target for radicals, and retaliation may come anywhere”, Lukyanov said.
Administration officials insisted that Moscow’s apparent move to shore up President Bashar al-Assad’s government had not changed US policy that Assad must give way to a more inclusive government in a peaceful transition.
Putin and his officials have said only that Russian Federation has provided weapons and training to the Syrian military to help it combat IS.
Earnest said Monday’s meeting was called after “repeated requests from the Russians” and suggested that Russia’s economic decline, partly a result of the sanctions, was a key concern for Putin. Kerry, however, hinted that the USA may allow Assad to stay in power for the short-term until a political settlement is reached.
Advertisement
“On a course like that, it is possible that we could find areas of cooperation”, Carter told reporters.
