Russian diplomat says Syria pullout won’t affect Israel’s security

A high-ranking Russian diplomat in Israel said Tuesday that Israel should not be concerned by Russia’s military withdrawal from Syria, saying Israel’s security would not be affected by the surprise move.

Alexey Drobinin, minister-counselor at the Russian embassy, told the Hebrew-language Ynet website that Moscow was aware of the Jewish state’s keen interest in developments across its northeastern border, saying the move was designed to allow diplomatic efforts to succeed.

“We will see to it that the crisis is solved and we will do everything so that Israel’s security will not be impacted,” Drobinin added. “We have a deep understanding of the Israeli interest in what is going on in Syria.”

Russian jets began taking off from the Hmeimim air base in Syria Tuesday morning, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia would draw down its military involvement as peace talks to end the five-year-old conflict kicked off.

Drobinin said despite the pullout, Russia would maintain a presence in Syria, where it has been key to propping up efforts by Damascus to fend off an armed rebellion.

“We are not leaving the area,” Drobinin said. “Russia is leaving behind an air and naval presence. The significance of the Russian withdrawal is to send a clear message that the time has come to give a chance to the political dialogue in Syria between the government and the opposition factions.”

President Reuven Rivlin was scheduled to depart for Moscow on Wednesday, where he will discuss regional issues with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

While Israel has sought to stay out of the Syrian conflict, Israeli planes have reportedly carried out airstrikes to keep weapons from being transferred from the Syrian regime to the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Putin shortly after Russia began its air campaign to reach understandings about Israeli military activites in Syria’s skies.

Russia launched the airstrikes in September saying it wanted to root out the Islamic State group that controls part of Syria, but the military campaign mostly propped up Syrian leader Bashar Assad.

UN-hosted negotiations in Geneva, which began Monday on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the conflict’s outbreak, are the latest effort to end violence that has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions.

Drobinin also took a snipe at the US over its policy which insists that Assad cannot remain in power, according to Army Radio.

“In contrast to the Americans, Russia doesn’t decide instead of the Syrian people who should rule it [Syria],” Drobinin said. “Our principles are against changing government by force. We also said the only way out of the crisis in Syria is through dialogue between the government and the opposition. We created conditions for the start of real dialogue.”

AFP contributed to this report.