NETANYAHU TRAVELS TO RUSSIA TO MEET WITH PUTIN:

 The deepening ties between Israel and Russia are important for the country’s security, PM Netanyahu said Sunday 5 June 2016. Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet this week in the Kremlin. It is the fourth time that Netanyahu and Putin have met in recent months, including Netanyahu visits to Moscow in September 2015 and April 2016, and a meeting last November during the Paris climate conference. The leaders will discuss regional issues including the global fight against terrorism; the situation in and around Syria; and the diplomatic horizon between Israel and the Palestinians; as well as bilateral economic and trade cooperation and the strengthening of cultural and humanitarian ties. Israel has worked to strengthen its ties with Moscow, alongside those of its chief ally, the United States, whose President Barack Obama, Netanyahu has met only once in the last year. It has worked to coordinate its military air activity in the region with Russia, so that the two militaries do not interfere with one another in the Syrian theater. In other diplomatic actions, a bilateral pensions agreement, to restore Russian pensions to immigrants to Israel from the states of the former Soviet Union is scheduled to be signed. Also a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in agriculture and dairy technology is set to be endorsed. (JTA/J.Post)