Russia and Israel sign historic agreement

Russia has used the visit of Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barack, to the country to announce plans to step up efforts to push forward the Middle East peace process. For his part, Mr. Barack briefed his Russian hosts about the position of Israel’s government on the talks with Palestinians.

The highlight of the visit of Ehud Barack was the signing of a framework cooperation agreement between the Russian and Israeli Defense Ministries, which the Jerusalem Post calls historic, stressing that it was the first of such an agreement in the history of bilateral ties between the two  countries. But Russian experts who have commented on the issue, on the request by VOR, disagree with the conclusions of the Jerusalem Post.

The editor in chief of the National Defense Journal, Igor  Korotchenko  admits that the agreement is indeed the first of its kind in the history of Russo-Israeli relations, but says that Russia  does not regard it as historic since it had  signed a similar  agreement with several other countries, including Arab nations.

"Israel maintains a certain cautiousness in its ties with Russia, a consequence of the country’s relationship with Arab countries, especially the military cooperation between Russia and Syria, which represents for Israel, a highly sensitive issue," said Korotchenko. "But a few days before the visit of Ehud Barack to Russia, Sergei Prihodko, the Russian president’s adviser on international affairs, said that Russia will remain committed to its obligations to Syria under their military-technical cooperation agreement."

"Russia will continue to treat all nations in the Middle East with an even hand," said Korotchenko. "And it will be guided by a consideration of its national interest and will deliver to any country in the region defense weapons only. Russia does not want to further stoke the already extremely high tensions in the region."

Igor Korotchenko sees the agreement between Russia and Israel only as a symbolic gesture, designed to dispel all the Israeli reservations toward Russia. "At any rate, the agreement has not changed Russia’s attitude to events in the Middle East," concluded Korotchenko.