(Communicated by the MFA Spokesperson)
Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabi Ashkenazi met today (Monday, 26 October 2020) in Athens with his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The meeting took place within the framework of
FM Ashkenazi’s official visit to Greece. This is the first actual meeting of the two ministers after two prior phone calls between them.
FM Ashkenazi and FM Lavrov first met in private and later held an extended meeting at which Israel’s Ambassador to Greece Yossi Amrani, MFA Deputy Director General, Euro-Asia Division Gary Koren and MFA Chief of Staff Haim Regev were also present.
FM Ashkenazi presented to FM Lavrov the positive developments in the Middle East peace process, the signing of the peace agreement with the United Arab Emirates and the normalization agreements with Bahrain and Sudan. The conversation focused on the Iranian issue, the importance of maintaining stability in the Middle East, and dealing with terrorist organizations in general and Hezbollah in particular.
FM Ashkenazi: “Israel appreciates the dialogue and coordination with the Russian government to prevent Iran from entrenching itself in Syria. We must continue to work resolutely to prevent the leakage of weapons and precision weapons into the hands of Hezbollah in Lebanon, which operates under the cover of the civilian population and holds it hostage to its world-wide terror activities."
The two foreign ministers also discussed advancing the extensive bilateral agenda between the two countries.
Ashkenazi and Lavrov welcomed the preparations for the planned online meeting of the Intergovernmental Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation between Russia and Israel and agreed to promote the completion of the ratification of the adoption agreement between the two countries and to examine possible future collaborations in the global struggle against Corona.