Netanyahu Expects to Host Russia's Putin in Israel This Year

(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he expects Vladimir Putin to visit Israel later this year, a sign of the increasing security ties between the two countries.

Netanyahu has nurtured ties with the Russian president, believing Putin is key to his goal of reining in Iran’s influence in neighboring Syria. Russia is the main power broker in Syria, where it was instrumental in helping President Bashar al-Assad survive an eight-year civil war.

Netanyahu made the comments at the start of a meeting with Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s Security Council. Patrushev is in Israel for a rare tripartite security summit Tuesday that also includes U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton.

Patrushev said the three-way talks will focus on a long-term political settlement for Syria. The Russian delegation comes to the summit with ideas about “positive steps that can be taken” with the inclusion of other Middle East countries, he said, according to comments carried by the Russian news agency Interfax.

Israel and the U.S. want Russian assistance to compel Iran, which also was instrumental in supporting Assad, to leave Syria as the war winds down. Israel in recent years has carried out dozens of air strikes on Iranian military bases and weapons convoys in Syria, and has said it will not allow the fundamentalist Shiite regime to establish a new front against Israel from its northern neighbor.

Russia wants to project power across the Middle East through Assad, and would like to limit Iran’s competing influence in the country. Bolton on Sunday accused Iran of stepping up aggressive efforts throughout the Middle East and pursuing nuclear weapons.

--With assistance from Henry Meyer.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael S. Arnold in Tel Aviv at marnold48@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Riad Hamade at rhamade@bloomberg.net, Yaacov Benmeleh

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