Netanyahu returning to Moscow for Syria talks with Putin

PM will also mark 25 years of diplomatic relations with post-Soviet Russia during second visit of the year

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will next week pay his second visit to Moscow this year to discuss developments in war-torn Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said Wednesday.

The visit is scheduled for June 7, and will coincide with the 25th anniversary of the establishment of ties between Israel and post-Soviet Russia, according to Russian state news outlet TASS.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the two will discuss an “extensive” range of topics, most importantly Syria.

“Among the most important issues is the situation in Syria and around it as well as the current state and prospects of the Palestinian-Israeli settlement,” the Kremlin press service said, according to TASS.

News of the planned visit came five days after Netanyahu announced that Putin had agreed to return an Israeli tank lost in a battle in Syria in 1982, in a sign of deepening ties.

Netanyahu visited Moscow in April to discuss measures that would ensure the two countries do not get tangled up in Syria, where Russia has been supporting President Bashar Assad.

“During the forthcoming meeting it is planned to discuss the progress in implementing the agreements reached during Benjamin Netanyahu’s working visit to Moscow on April 21, 2016,” the Kremlin said. “Special attention is expected to be paid to the topical issues of bilateral cooperation, including the prospects of further boosting the trade and economic cooperation, cultural and humanitarian ties.”

Israel and Russia established a mechanism meant to coordinate between their air forces in Syria after Russia began carrying out airstrikes to help Assad, who has said his forces are battling Islamic militants and other “terrorists.” Assad’s government often refers to all opposition fighters as terrorists.

In April the Hebrew-language Yedioth Ahronoth daily newspaper reported that Russian forces fired on Israeli Air Force planes at least twice in the preceding weeks.

There was no indication from the unsourced report that any Israeli planes were hit, nor were any dates given for the incidents in question.

The paper said that President Reuven Rivlin brought up the issue with Putin during an official visit to Moscow in March, and that Putin said it was the first he’d heard of the incidents, despite coordination between the two militaries.

Days later media reports claimed an irregular aerial incident that occurred when Israeli fighter jets encountered Russian warplanes along the Syrian frontier. Information regarding the alleged incident was limited, and reports were conflicting on the number of aircraft involved. However, all reports agreed that at no point did any of the warplanes lock weapons on each other, with Channel 2 saying it was efficient coordination between Russian and Israeli officials that averted a possible clash.

The Kremlin denied the reports.