By Canadian Press

Elections looming, Netanyahu to head to Moscow to meet Putin

Apr 2, 2019 | 6:00 AM

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Russia this week for talks with President Vladimir Putin.

Their meeting on Thursday will take place just five days before Israel’s national elections next week. Netanyahu’s office says he will be visiting Moscow, but doesn’t state the purpose of the visit.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday confirmed the upcoming visit, saying that it will be a brief meeting for the two leaders to “compare notes.”

Netanyahu has met with Putin three times over the past year, most recently in February, to discuss military co-ordination between Russia and Israel in neighbouring Syria.

Israel and Russia maintain a hotline to prevent their air forces from clashing over Syria. Syrian forces downed a Russian warplane in September while responding to an Israeli air strike.

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The Associated Press