MOSCOW: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Russia on Thursday to meet President Vladimir Putin, as he looks to convey the image of a statesman ahead of an election on September 17.
Netanyahu is on a campaign to maintain his status as the country’s longest-serving prime minister and the talks in Russia’s Sochi come days after his controversial vow to annex the West Bank’s Jordan Valley if re-elected.
Netanyahu has sought to highlight his relations with world leaders, including Putin and US President Donald Trump, and is on his third visit to Russia this year.
“This is a very important trip,” he told journalists before his departure.
Meetings in Russia are meant to prevent clashes in Syria and “to ensure Israel’s security, in the face of attempts by Iran and its proxies to attack us,” he said.
Prior to meeting Putin, Netanyahu, who also serves as defense minister, met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
“Every meeting with you is very important,” Netanyahu said.
Moscow on Wednesday condemned Netanyahu’s threat to annex the Jordan Valley, with the foreign ministry saying it could lead to a “sharp escalation of tensions” and undermine peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians.
Netanyahu previously said he and Putin would discuss Iran’s activity in Syria, where Israel had carried out strikes against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets.
Russia, Iran and its Lebanese Shiite ally Hezbollah back Syrian President Bashar Assad in the civil war, and Russia and Israel have established a hotline to avoid clashes.
That did not prevent an incident last year when Syrian air defense accidentally downed a Russian plane during an Israeli raid, with the Kremlin blaming Israel.
Speaking to Russian news website RBK, Netanyahu said the only thing that had prevented Israel and Russia from clashing in Syria was “direct contact with President Putin, a connection which is of great value to me.”
“Relations between Israel and Russia today are better than ever,” he said in the interview published in Russian.
Netanyahu is looking to pull votes away from his rival Avigdor Lieberman of the nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party who relies on support from Israelis with roots in the former Soviet Union.
The election was called after Netanyahu failed to form a coalition government after polls in April. He met Putin prior to that election as well.
Israel’s Netanyahu in Russia to meet Putin ahead of polls
Israel’s Netanyahu in Russia to meet Putin ahead of polls
- Netanyahu is on a campaign to maintain his status as the country’s longest-serving prime minister
- Russia’s Sochi come days after his controversial vow to annex the West Bank’s Jordan Valley if re-elected
Venezuela’s acting president calls for oil industry reforms to attract more foreign investment
- In her speech, Rodríguez said money earned from foreign oil sales would go into two funds: one dedicated to social services for workers and the public health care system, and another to economic development and infrastructure projects
CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez used her first state of the union address on Thursday to promote oil industry reforms that would attract foreign investment, an objective aggressively pushed by the Trump administration since it toppled the country’s longtime leader less than two weeks ago.
Rodríguez, who has been under pressure from the US to fall in line with its vision for the oil-rich nation, said sales of Venezuelan oil would go to bolster crisis-stricken health services, economic development and other infrastructure projects.
While she sharply criticized the Trump administration and said there was a “stain on our relations,” the former vice president also outlined a distinct vision for the future between the two historic adversaries, straying from her predecessors, who have long railed against American intervention in Venezuela.
“Let us not be afraid of diplomacy” with the US, said Rodriguez, who must now navigate competing pressures from the Trump administration and a government loyal to former President Nicolás Maduro.
The speech, which was broadcast on a delay in Venezuela, came one day after Rodríguez said her government would continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro in what she described as “a new political moment” since his ouster.
Trump on Thursday met at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. But in endorsing Rodríguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, Trump has sidelined Machado.
In her speech, Rodríguez said money earned from foreign oil sales would go into two funds: one dedicated to social services for workers and the public health care system, and another to economic development and infrastructure projects.
Hospitals and other health care facilities across the country have long suffered. Patients are asked to provide practically all supplies needed for their care, from syringes to surgical screws. Economic turmoil, among other factors, has pushed millions of Venezuelans to migrate from the South American nation in recent years.
In moving forward, the acting president must walk a tightrope, balancing pressures from both Washington and top Venezuelan officials who hold sway over Venezuela’s security forces and strongly oppose the US Her recent public speeches reflect those tensions — vacillating from conciliatory calls for cooperation with the US, to defiant rants echoing the anti-imperialist rhetoric of her toppled predecessor.
American authorities have long railed against a government they describe as a “dictatorship,” while Venezuela’s government has built a powerful populist ethos sharply opposed to US meddling in its affairs.
For the foreseeable future, Rodríguez’s government has been effectively relieved of having to hold elections. That’s because when Venezuela’s high court granted Rodríguez presidential powers on an acting basis, it cited a provision of the constitution that allows the vice president to take over for a renewable period of 90 days.
Trump enlisted Rodríguez to help secure US control over Venezuela’s oil sales despite sanctioning her for human rights violations during his first term. To ensure she does his bidding, Trump threatened Rodríguez earlier this month with a “situation probably worse than Maduro.”
Maduro, who is being held in a Brooklyn jail, has pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges.
Before Rodríguez’s speech on Thursday, a group of government supporters was allowed into the presidential palace, where they chanted for Maduro, who the government insists remains the country’s president. “Maduro, resist, the people are rising,” they shouted.
