| Putin warns against Syria interference |
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday cautioned against foreign interference in Syria during a rare visit to Israel, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iranian nuclear weapons would pose “a severe danger, first and foremost to Israel, but also to the region and entire world.”
“From the very beginning of the so-called Arab Spring, Russia has been persuading its partners that democratic changes should take place in a civilised manner and without external intervention,” Putin said after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his first visit to the country since 2005.
Analysts see Putin’s trip to Israel followed by a visit to the West Bank and Jordan on Tuesday as a diplomatic mission as world powers scramble for a solution to stop the bloodshed in Syria and resolve Iran’s nuclear crisis.
“I am confident that Russia, which defeated fascism, will not allow today’s threats to continue. Not the Iranian threat. Not the bloodshed in Syria,” Israeli President Shimon Peres said in the resort town of Netanya where the two leaders unveiled a World War II monument.
“Russia, which made such a decisive contribution in the Second World War, is the same Russia that can make another decisive contribution, this time to peace in the Middle East,” he said next to the black-and-white monument overlooking the Mediterranean.
Putin and the Israeli leaders said they discussed the Syrian crisis and Iran’s controversial nuclear programme but gave no details.
Speaking alongside Putin after the talks, Netanyahu said it was time to ramp up sanctions against Iran to try to curb its nuclear programme after discussing the matter with visiting Vladimir Putin.
In his first public comments on the inconclusive round of talks in Moscow last week between world powers and Iran, Netanyahu repeated Israel’s three core demands.
“I believe two things must be done now: strengthening the sanctions and also boosting the demands,” Netanyahu said, without mentioning the possibility of Israeli military action should diplomacy fail.
The international community must call for the cessation of all uranium enrichment in Iran, the removal of all enriched uranium from the country and the dismantling of the Furdow underground nuclear facility, he added.
“We had an opportunity to discuss the negotiations under way between the international community and Iran,” Netanyahu said of his meeting with Putin.
Putin, in his own comments to reporters said they discussed Iran’s nuclear programme and the situation in Syria “in great detail”.
Earlier, Putin sought to highlight common history that he said brings the two nations closer.
He said the Netanya monument would serve “as a reminder that the world is still fragile and we should do our best in order for the criminal Nazi doctrines, no matter what form or shape they take, to be left in the past.”
Agencies
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