MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday he is proud that Russia’s relations with Israel have reached the highest ever level.
"We in Russia pay much attention to the development of comprehensive and mutually beneficial relations with Israel. And we want to build them in a partner, constructive spirit," Putin said at a congress of the Israeli charity foundation Keren Hayesod.
"It would not be an exaggeration to say that I am proud that there have never been such a level of relations between Russia and Israel, but, of course, the very first months and years after the establishment of the State of Israel," he said.
"The Russian-Israeli ties are distinguished for a meaningful political dialogue," the Russian leader said, adding he had been having regular meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The latest such meeting took place last week in Russia’s Sochi. "We often exchange views, have consultations over the phone, discuss current, sometimes the most pressing issues of global and regional agenda, bilateral cooperation," he noted.
Putin will travel to Israel in January 2020 and will take part in the ceremony of unveiling a memorial dedicated to victims of the Siege of Leningrad.
"[Israeli] President Reuven Rivlin invited me to visit Israel in January next year to participate in the events marking the 75th anniversary of liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp and the Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. I will take advantage of this offer, as I recently said at a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I hope that in the course of the visit the Israeli leadership and I will unveil the memorial dedicated to victims of the Siege of Leningrad erected at the initiative of Israeli veterans," Putin told a congress of the Israeli Keren Hayesod fundraising organization.
