To Israel for a holiday

The Jewish state awaits Vladimir Putin

The Israeli leadership hopes that Vladimir Putin will make his last foreign visit as the current President of Russia to the Jewish state. The Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot has received information that Mr. Putin will take part in events in May to mark the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence.

Putting these plans into practice will not be easy. It is known that the inauguration of the elected President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev will take place on May 7. Meanwhile, this year Independence Day in Israel is celebrated on May 8 (the Jewish state uses the lunar, not the Gregorian, calendar, so the dates of holidays and memorials change every year). However, Israeli journalists are talking about Mr. Putin, not Mr. Medvedev, coming for the holidays. At the same time, it is not excluded that Vladimir Putin will come to Israel already with the rank of prime minister.

Many foreign leaders, including US President George W. Bush, will come to Israel to celebrate the anniversary. Shortly after the celebration, on May 14, a “conference of the future” should take place, which was proposed by Israeli President Shimon Peres. According to Yedioth Ahronot, Mr. Peres a week ago conveyed an official invitation to the Russian leadership to take part in the conference. This was done through Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was on a visit to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

As sources in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Vremya Novostei, Vladimir Putin has not yet accepted the Israelis' invitation. Our interlocutors at the diplomatic department expressed doubt that Mr. Putin would agree to be in Israel at the same time as the head of the White House, George W. Bush, who, in turn, has already announced that he will take part in the conference: “The Russian leader will most likely prefer to postpone his visit to another date "

As VN was told by the press service of the Office of the President of Israel, “the exact list of conference participants has not yet been compiled.” At the same time, Israeli journalists suggest that Vladimir Putin is not the only one who would want to avoid Bush's company in Israel. Thus, in mid-March, German Chancellor Angela Merkel already visited Jerusalem. French President Nicolas Sarkozy plans to visit Israel in June. And British Prime Minister Gordon Brown directly stated that he would come to Israel separately from George Bush. It is quite possible that Shimon Peres' "conference of the future" will be in jeopardy.

Visits of Russian presidents to Israel seem to be becoming a tradition. In January 2000, shortly after his resignation, the first Russian president , Boris Yeltsin, visited Jerusalem to take part in celebrations to mark the 2000th anniversary of Christianity . On April 28-29, 2005, when the Israelis celebrated Passover, Vladimir Putin visited Jerusalem . Then, however, the conversation was mainly not about holidays, but about the supply of Russian weapons to Syria, which the Israelis objected to.

In Israel, Vladimir Putin's upcoming visit is regarded as more than just a courtesy to the leadership of the Jewish state, which is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its independence this year. “Russia has not demonstrated such activity in the Middle East region for a long time as in recent years,” Alon Peled, a political scientist and employee of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told VN. -- Apparently, Vladimir Putin will remain a recognized Russian leader even after he resigns as president. And therefore Putin will retain the authority to discuss issues of international politics with the leaders of other states.”

Dmitry DUBOV, Maria GRISHINA, Jerusalem