Vladimir Putin
Erdoğan hosts Putin and Rouhani for Syria summit
Turkey: Summit aims to “end the climate of conflict” in Syria and achieve a “lasting political solution” • Rouhani: Problems in Syria include the “Zionist regime’s aggressions” and the “interventionist” U.S. presence.
The two leaders discussed the situation in Syria, where Russia is backing Syrian President Bashar Assad and Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy.
The Israeli prime minister also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin days ahead of the country’s April 9 election; it may be part of a strategy to woo voters in Israel who have Russian roots.
The two leaders discussed the ongoing situation regarding Syria, Iran and bilateral relations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin may be “interested in good relations with Israel, sure, but he is interested in building leverage rather than genuine friendship,” said Anna Borshchevskaya of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told his Turkish counterpart in a June 6 letter that the pilots must leave the United States by July 31, and that training for new students will be halted.
In Russia, the notion of a “hero who died for his homeland” is sacred. Every year in Russia, thousands of volunteers search for soldiers who fell defending their homeland from the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War (World War II).
“We will be requested to pay; the Russians believe there are no free lunches,” said Micky Aharonson, former head of the foreign-relations directorate of the National Security Council in Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office.
“Our military, together with Syrian partners, established the place of his burial,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We are very pleased that at home they can give him the necessary military honors.”
Moscow has also attempted to play the role of mediator between Israel and Iran, seeking to douse the shadow war raging between them on Syrian soil. Israel, for its part, is determined to disrupt Iran’s plan to turn Syria into a war front against it.
The Israeli prime minister has made it “unequivocally clear” to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the continuation of Israeli airstrikes in Syria against Iranian proxies such as Hezbollah.
The two leaders reportedly also put behind a diplomatic row that was created following the accidental downing of a Russian plane by Syrian forces following an Israeli airstrike in October.
