Bibi to travel to Russia to talk Syria crisis

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Russia to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Syria crisis.

Kremlin confirmed the news in a statement on Monday.

Netanyahu will meet with Putin later on Tuesday at the President’s vacation residence in the southern resort of Sochi.

“During the meeting an exchange of opinion is planned on key aspects of bilateral ties,” the Kremlin said in the statement.

“It is expected that major attention will be paid to the current situation in the Middle East, first and foremost in Syria,” it added.

On May 7, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with the Russian President and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

At a joint press conference after holding talks, Lavrov and Kerry agreed to encourage the Syrian government and the foreign-backed militants to find a political solution to the crisis.

Moscow and Washington agreed to hold an “international peace conference” on Syria, which will serve as a follow-up to an earlier Geneva meeting, which was held last year.

On June 30, 2012, foreign ministers of several countries including China, France, Russia, and the UK foreign secretary and the US secretary of state met in Geneva and proposed a resolution to the crisis in Syria on mutual consent.

Meanwhile, Lavrov said in an interview with Al-Mayadeen TV on Monday that Iran should also participate in the second round of talks in Geneva, as it plays a key role in resolving the crisis in the Arab country.

Turmoil has gripped Syria since March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of Syrian security forces, have been killed in the unrest.

The Syrian government maintains that the chaos in the country is being orchestrated from outside and that there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.