Putin Visits Israel - April 2005

NY Times: Putin Talks to Israel re. Syria, Iran; Also Proposes Peace Summit

AP: Russian-Speaking Israeli Immigrants Mixed on Putin

AP: Russian Oligarchs In Israel Irk Putin; Jewish Oligarch in Russia Waits On Verdict

JTA: Politics, personal views push Putin to Israel


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NY Times - 04.28.2005

New York Times

Putin Seeks to Reassure Israelis on Russian Aid to Syria and Iran

By GREG MYRE 

JERUSALEM - On the first visit by a Kremlin leader to Israel, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin sought today to reassure the Jewish state that Russian nuclear assistance to Iran and missile sales to Syria did not threaten Israel's security.

Israel gave Mr. Putin an official welcome full of pomp, including meetings with President Moshe Katsav, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and a stop at Israel's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem. But Israeli leaders also made clear that they viewed Russian support for Israel's enemies as a serious danger.

Mr. Putin's visit is a tangible sign of improved ties between Russia and Israel as they work to overcome a complicated and troubled relationship dating back decades. Yet their current differences repeatedly surfaced.

After President Putin's meeting with President Katsav, the Russian leader was asked about Moscow's plans to sell antiaircraft missiles to Syria.

"The missiles we are providing to Syria are short-range antiaircraft missiles that cannot reach Israeli territory," Mr. Putin said. "To come within their range, you would have to attack Syria. Do you want to do that?"

Mr. Putin said he vetoed the sale of longer-range missiles to Syria, citing Israeli security concerns.

Yet President Katsav, who has a largely ceremonial role and usually steers clear of political disputes, did not hesitate to spell out his disagreements with Mr. Putin.

"There is a difference of opinion between the Russian president and myself," Mr. Katsav said at the joint news conference. "Despite the steps the president has taken to reduce the danger, only in the last few days Syria has transferred additional missiles to Hezbollah," the militant Lebanese group. "Israel is forced to still fight terror, and the Russian missiles could reduce our capability," Mr. Katsav added.

Israel also says Iran is intent on developing nuclear weapons, and that Russian help in building a nuclear power plant is assisting the Iranian effort. Israel regards a nuclear-armed Iran as potentially the most serious threat facing Israel, though Iran insists its nuclear program is strictly for civilian purposes like energy production.

"We are working with Iran for peaceful nuclear purposes," Mr. Putin said. "We certainly object to any Iranian plans for acquiring nuclear weapons."

Iran is required to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia so that it cannot be processed for military purposes, Mr. Putin said, though he added that Iran must do more to persuade the world that it is not seeking nuclear weapons.

"I agree that these steps are not enough and we have to get Iran to agree to nuclear inspections," Mr. Putin said. "It is necessary for our Iranian partners to reject the creation of nuclear cycle technology and not obstruct placing its nuclear program under complete international control."

Mr. Putin, who visited Egypt for arriving in Israel, is seeking to raise Russia's profile and stake out a role as a peace mediator in a region where Moscow's influence has waned since the Soviet breakup.

Russia, along with the United States, the United Nations and the European Union, make up the so-called Quartet that has co-sponsored the Middle East peace plan, known as the road map.

But the Russian role has been comparatively small.

In Egypt on Wednesday, Mr. Putin proposed an international peace conference on the Middle East, but the United States and Israel both gave it a cool reaction.

The Soviet Union was a leading supporter of Arab states during the cold war, yet Mr. Putin's visit to Egypt marked the first trip to that country by a Kremlin leader in more than 40 years. No Soviet or Russian leader had ever visited Israel before Mr. Putin's arrival on Wednesday night.

Mr. Putin's visit has not inspired an outpouring of warmth among the large Russian immigrant community in Israel. Roughly one million Israeli citizens more than 15 percent of the population have emigrated from the former Soviet Union over the past two decades.

While some welcomed his visit, others remain wary of Mr. Putin's leadership and the role Russia is playing in the Middle East.

The Palestinians endorsed Mr. Putin's call for an international conference on the Middle East, and the Russian leader plans to meet on Friday with the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah. 

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Associated Press - 04.28.2005

Russian-Speaking Immigrants Mixed on Putin


By STEVE GUTTERMAN

JERUSALEM (AP) - The mall in Pisgat Zeev is just off the road dividing the Jewish suburb on Jerusalem's edge from a Palestinian neighborhood, but the language heard echoing off its tiles most often along with Hebrew is not Arabic - it's Russian, a tongue spoken by more than a million Israelis with origins in the former Soviet Union.

On the day Vladimir Putin arrived in Israel, attitudes among the Russian speakers at the mall - standing behind shop counters, browsing store shelves, pushing baby strollers - included hope, praise, skepticism and indifference about the first visit by a Russian or Soviet leader.

That's to be expected, perhaps, since their feelings about the land they left behind range from relief to regret and everything in between - emotions that sometimes jostle for space in a single immigrant's soul.

``I think it's very important for Russian Israelis that Russia and Israel have good political relations, and Putin's visit could foster that,'' said Zhenya Filkenshteyn, a 26-year-old art history student who emigrated from St. Petersburg with her parents in 1990.

But while Filkenshteyn effortlessly makes suggestions to Hebrew-speaking Israeli customers in the mall's bookstore, she said she was at a loss to understand Putin's motivations, let alone explain them to Hebrew-speaking friends who asked her about the visit because of her background.

``I don't think that Russia can help Israel the way America does,'' she said. ``It's not that he doesn't want to help, but it's not Israel's interests he has in mind - it's his own country's interests.''

For decades, Moscow's interests and Israel's seemed deeply different, with the Soviet Union supporting its Arab neighbors and barring many Jews from emigrating. Diplomatic relations were broken off in 1967 and not fully restored until 1991, as the Soviet Union was breaking up.

But the chaos that followed the Soviet collapse strengthened a wave of Jewish emigration that had begun under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s, and Russian-speakers now wield powerful political influence, making up about a fifth of the country's population.

To some degree, the Russian-speaking community is self-contained. There are Russian shops, Russian television channels and Russian newspapers, and many immigrants from the former Soviet Union have mixed little with native Israelis.

There is a measure of mistrust on either side - with some immigrants saying they have brought culture to Israel but some Israelis saying the newcomers have also brought crime and corruption.

Russia is also connected to Israel by the Russian Orthodox religious community in the Holy Land, created by decree of Czar Nicholas I in the mid-19th century and centered at the Trinity Cathedral in Jerusalem.

Stepping out into the placid square outside the cathedral after a Wednesday morning service ahead of Russian Orthodox Easter Sunday, Antonina Shteiman said she hoped Putin's visit would improve relations and give the Mideast peace process a boost.

``It's always good when people talk, when issues are decided frankly and in a friendly way,'' said Shteiman, a Russian Orthodox believer who came to Jerusalem from Moscow with her Jewish husband seven years ago.

Putin has cited Israel's large Russian-speaking population as one of the reasons for his visit, which is aimed at building on improving relations and raising Russia's profile in the Middle East. He arrived from Egypt on Wednesday and is to meet with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

The Palestinians, too, have deep ties with Russia. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was strongly allied with the Arab countries at war with Israel as well as the Palestinians as a counterweight to America's support for Israel.

More than 15,000 Palestinian students studied in the Soviet Union and more than 25,000 speak Russian, said Khairi al-Oriedi, Palestinian ambassador to Russia. Many Palestinians have married Russians as well. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas studied in Moscow for several years.

In the bookstore, Filkenshteyn was not so sure. Like many Russian immigrants, her father - a physicist and mathematician - was unable to find a job in Israel in his specialty. Nostalgic for home, he listens to Russian radio stations.

Filkenshteyn has visited Russia twice in recent years and seen vast change since she left amid deprivation and chaos in 1990. An oil-fueled economic boom has turned big cities from gray to glitzy, and the kind of mall where she works - unheard of in Russia 15 years ago - is a step down from some of the shopping centers springing up in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

``Things seem to be changing for the better there,'' she said. ``I often think - not that there won't be a future for me here, but that in Russia it might be easier.''

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Associated Press - 04.26.2005

Russia Fugitives Mar Putin's Israel Visit

By JOSEF FEDERMAN, The Associated Press

JERUSALEM -- The presence in Israel of some of Russia's most-wanted fugitives is threatening to cloud the historic visit this week by President Vladimir Putin.

Three billionaire oil executives, a publishing tycoon and a former Putin ally have all taken up residence in Israel in recent years as Russia sought their arrests, rankling officials in Moscow.

On the eve of Putin's arrival Wednesday as the first Russian or Soviet leader to visit Israel, both governments played down any disagreement over the businessmen. Israeli officials conceded Putin might raise the matter, but noted Prime Minister Ariel Sharon insists he won't turn over the wanted men.

"They are Israeli citizens and that's it," said Asaf Shariv, a Sharon spokesman.

Israel and Russia have had close relations since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Both are involved in battles against Islamic militants, and they are linked by the hundreds of thousands of Russian immigrants now living in Israel.

But ties have become strained over Russia's planned sale of anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, an enemy of Israel. Israeli officials dismissed speculation they might bargain to extradite the fugitives in exchange for Russia scrapping the arms deal.

The Putin visit also coincides with Wednesday's scheduled verdict in the Russian tax evasion and fraud trial of wealthy Jewish businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former head of the Yukos oil giant.

While Putin casts the case as a straightforward anti-corruption effort, some people see anti-Semitic undertones in his campaign against Khodorkovsky and other Jewish tycoons.

"The Yukos scandal had a political and maybe Jewish roots," said Roman Bronfman, an Israeli lawmaker who immigrated from the Soviet Union in 1980.

The three oil executives living in Israel _ Leonid Nevzlin, Mikhail Brudno and Vladimir Dubov _ are former partners of Khodorkovsky and all are wanted by Russia on fraud charges. The men, all of whom appeared on the Forbes list of the world's billionaires in 2004, are now directors of Group Menatep, a holding company that owns 60 percent of what remains of the dismantled Yukos empire.

Menatep officials declined comment on Putin's visit, and a spokeswoman for Nevzlin, who also is wanted by Russia in an alleged murder plot, said he would have no comment until after the verdict in Khodorkovsky's case.

Also with homes in Israel are Vladimir Gusinsky, a media magnate who fled Russia after being charged with financial misdeeds in a probe widely seen as punishment for his TV station's critical coverage of Putin, and Boris Berezovsky, a one-time Kremlin insider who was charged with fraud after a falling out with Putin. Both men spend most of their time abroad.

The five wanted businessmen immigrated under Israel's "Law of Return," which grants automatic citizenship to any Jew.

The issue of extraditing Jews has always been sensitive in Israel, which was created after the Nazi Holocaust as a haven for Jews. Turning someone over to Russia would be especially hard for Sharon, because the Soviet Union refused for decades to let its Jewish citizens leave the country.

"I do not intend to turn anyone over," Sharon told the Yediot Ahronot daily. "Since the days of my youth, I have been opposed to turning over Jews. I am saying this in the clearest manner possible."

Berezovsky, who said he no longer holds Israeli citizenship but spends significant time in the country, said he found Sharon's comments reassuring. "I'm not afraid of Putin at all," he said from Britain, where he lives in exile.

Putin, who has pledged to combat anti-Semitism in Russia, will not seek extradition of the fugitives, said an official in his press service, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Israeli lawmaker Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that during his trip to Russia last week, top Russian officials never mentioned the fugitives.

"There were plenty of opportunities to do it, and nobody raised it," he said. "It seems to me that nobody really considers this a real obstacle."

Alexander Shumilin, a Mideast analyst at Moscow's USA and Canada Institute, said Putin is likely to talk about the businessmen, known in Russia as "the oligarchs." But he added that the Kremlin understands extradition is out of the question.

Putin's real intent is to send a warning to the fugitives to stay out of Russian affairs, Shumilin said. Nevzlin, for instance, has talked about financing opposition groups in Russia.

"Strengthening contacts on an official level will be taken into account by the oligarchs themselves," Shumilin said. "The goal would be to limit the damage the oligarchs can do."

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JTA - 04.22.2005

Politics, personal views push Putin to visit the Jewish state

By Lev Krichevsky 

MOSCOW (JTA) -- Russian arms sales to Syria are expected to be on the front burner when Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a historic visit to Israel next week. 

Analysts say Putin’s personal religious views may be another factor motivating him to make the April 27-28 visit. 

Putin will hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on issues affecting the Middle East peace process, including cooperation between Moscow and Jerusalem on anti-terror and security issues, Russian participation in Iran’s nuclear program and Russia’s recently announced arms sales to Syria. 

Israel fears that the sale of Russian missiles to Syria can shake the balance of power in the region, especially if some of the weapons transferred to Damascus end up in the hands of such Syrian-sponsored terrorist groups such as Hezbollah or Palestinian groups in the West Bank. 

Official sources in Russia have indicated that the visit is an attempt to demonstrate that relations between Moscow and Jerusalem remain stable despite the arms sales and recent high-profile cases of Russian anti-Semitism that seemed to strain the overall positive nature of Israeli-Russian relations in recent years. 

Those relations have improved greatly in the 15 years since the fall of the Soviet Union. Though Putin is paying his first official visit to Israel as president, Sharon has visited Moscow three times since taking office in 2001. 

Putin also will visit Palestinian territory and Egypt during his visit to the region. Russia is a member of the diplomatic “Quartet” of mediators that sponsored the “road map” peace plan, along with the United States, the United Nations and the European Union.

Putin’s trip comes at the invitation of Israeli President Moshe Katsav, who is said to have invited the Russian president while the two leaders were in Poland in January to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. 

Katsav is expected to visit Moscow on May 9, along with many other world leaders who will honor Russia’s role in the victory over Nazism in World War II. 

But days before his visit, Putin irritated Israeli officials when he said in Moscow this week that after the sale of Russian Igla missiles to Damascus, “Israeli aircraft will no longer be flying” over the palace of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Israeli planes once buzzed Assad’s palace as a warning after a terrorist attack carried out by Palestinian groups with Syrian backing.

Russia insists that its missile sale to Syria — the first such deal between Russia and an Arab nation in several years — won’t harm Israeli interests or shake the strategic balance in the Middle East. Russia says the missiles, which are favored by terrorists because they are portable and can be fired from the shoulder at passenger aircraft and other soft targets, will be mounted on trucks and thus are less of a threat. 

A leading Russian military analyst, describing the arms sale as primarily an economic venture, said its significance should not be overestimated.

“Russia has lost its ability and to a large extent its interest to influence developments in the region,” said Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent analyst in Moscow. 

“Yes, we do sell weapons to Syria and the Arabs, but not because we have some big game in the region to play,” he said. “We could sell Russian weapons to Israel as well — only Israel doesn’t seem to be interested in Russian weapons.”

Felgenhauer said Putin personally harbors no anti-Semitic feelings and always has had a certain curiosity about the Jewish state. 

Putin visited Israel in 1996 and 1997, before he was elected president of Russia.

Another leading analyst noted that the visit is taking place on the eve of the Russian Orthodox Easter, which falls this year on May 1. 

Putin is believed to be a devout Orthodox Christian, and he has made several pilgrimages to sites in Russia regarded as holy by Russian Christians. 

The real purpose of Putin’s visit is to make a pilgrimage to holy sites on the eve of Easter, an old and important tradition for Eastern Orthodox, Yevgeny Satanovsky, president of the Institute for Israel and Near Eastern Studies, a Moscow think tank, told JTA. 

“Putin is going to pray at some of the holiest sites for Russian Christians, such as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem,” Satanovsky said. 

“He has a team that goes with him who will be dealing with the issues of Syria and Iran” during the visit, “but his personal interest is different,” Satanovsky said.

He added that the visit bodes well for Russian-Israeli cooperation.

“The fact that the visit is taking place against the backdrop of developments that many see as straining bilateral ties is good news by itself,” Satanovsky said.

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