Peter Lyukimson, Israel. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
In late January the Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, Nikolai Patrushev, met the chairman of the National Security Council of Israel, Yossi Cohen, in Moscow. The official report on the meeting is meagre: “The sides shared their views on the acutest problems of international and regional security; prospects of settlement of the Syrian crisis and the process of talks about the Iranian nuclear program were discussed; issues of providing information security, the struggle against terrorism, and cooperation in the military and technical sphere were considered.”
However, Vestnik Kavkaza found out certain details of secret talks between Israel and Russia on selling S-300 air defense systems to Iran.
On January 16 Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu called President Vladimir Putin on the phone to persuade him to reject the deal, which costs about $800 million. For sure, Netanyahu understood that today Russia fears that a dialogue between Iran and the West could damage Russian-Iranian relations, and that’s why the leadership of Russia intends to complete the deal. During a long talk the Israeli leader tried to convince the Russian President that providing Iran with the S-300 would damage the current strategic balance in the Middle East, and it may cause unpredictable consequences. Moreover, Netanyahu made it clear that Russian air defense systems in Iran would seriously impede an Israeli attack on the nuclear facilities of the country, if it were necessary.
While Netanyahu was talking to Putin on the phone, an official Iranian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in Moscow. The goal of the visit was to sign a contract on selling S-300 systems to Iran.
However, the talk between the Israeli and Russia leaders had consequences: the Iranian delegation was offered Antaeus-2500 air defense systems instead of the S-300 to combat short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles. Mr. Zarif stated that this was unacceptable, and the Russian-Iranian talks on supplies of air defense systems came to a deadlock.
Later, Yossi Cohen, Netanyahu’s advisor on national security, arrived in Moscow. To realize the importance of ties with Russia for Israel, it is enough to say that this was the third visit by Cohen to Moscow in three months. The goal of Cohen’s visit was clear: he should complete what was started by his boss and make Russia promise that it won’t provide the Islamic Republic with the S-300.
Cohen talked to his Russian colleague Nikolai Patrushev. The official communiqué after the meeting stated that the sides shared their views on acute issues, first of all, the Syrian crisis, talks over the Iranian nuclear program, and so on. Nothing is said about the S-300 air defense systems in the documents.
However, Israeli observers pointed out a phrase in the communiqué which says that “the sides agreed on the need to improve cooperation in the military and technical spheres.” According to Israeli political scientists, the words are a key phrase. It means that Russia is meeting Israel halfway and, apparently, the S-300 won’t be sold to Iran. But $800 million is a serious sum for any country of the world, and Israel has to offer Russia something in return. And now the Israel media is trying to guess what Netanyahu and Cohen promised Russia. Probably we will soon find out it; at the same time, it is possible that only historians of the next generation will do so.
