From a honeymoon in the years after Israel's founding, to strained ties after the mistaken downing of a Russian plane in Syria, relations between Israel and Russia have gone through several periods of tensions.
These have mainly revolved around disagreements on Middle Eastern issues.
An Ilyushin Il-20 electronic-warfare aircraft fly over an airfield in Russia's Central Military District. /VCG Photo
One of the first to recognize Israel
In November 1947, the Soviet Union's government accepted the plan to split Palestine into two states, one Jewish, the other Arab.
It became one of the first countries to recognize the State of Israel after its creation in May 1948.
In May 1949, Moscow voted in favor of Israel's admission to the United Nations.
24-year rupture
In May 1967, the Soviet Union broke off relations with Israel during the Arab-Israeli war.
Moscow went on to arm and fund Arab countries for several decades.
A rapprochement started in August 1986, with a first official contact in Helsinki between Israeli and Soviet consular delegations.
In October 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev reestablished diplomatic relations, two months before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
He authorized Jews to emigrate freely. Over a decade more than one million of Russian Jews emigrated to Israel.
In April 1994, the official visit of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to Moscow, the first by an Israeli head of government, enshrined the full normalization of bilateral relations.
The Israeli embassy in Moscow, September 18, 2018. /VCG Photo
United against 'terrorism'
In September 2001, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Russian President Vladimir Putin jointly in Moscow condemned "terrorism", of which both countries say they are victims.
Traditionally closer to Arab nations, Russia co-sponsored with the United States the Middle East peace process.
The positions of the Kremlin and the Israelis have come closer since the Russian offensive in its separatist republic of Chechnya, where Moscow said it was fighting terrorism.
Sharon, for his part, says the violence of the intifada, or Palestinian uprising, amounts to a terrorist campaign.
In April 2005, Putin made an historic visit to Israel, against the background of a disagreement over Moscow's sale of anti-aircraft missiles to Syria.
In October 2006, the nuclear program of Israel's arch enemy Iran dominated the first visit to Moscow of Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert.
Energy and military cooperation
In June 2008, Russian giant Gazprom said it was examining possible deliveries of gas to Israel.
In September 2010, the Russian and Israeli defense ministers sign in Moscow an accord on military cooperation, which had already manifested itself in 2009 in the sale to Russia of Israeli drones.
Israel regularly expresses concerns over Russian arms sales, notably to Iran and Syria.
Contacts have since been stepped up, with Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting three times since the beginning of 2018.
Israelis look over the Israeli-Syrian border from the Golan Heights as Russian warplanes carry out air strikes in Syria, July 23, 2018. /VCG Photo
Coordination in Syria
In September 2015, Netanyahu met Putin in Moscow. The Israeli government says the two countries have agreed on a mechanism to coordinate their military action in war-torn Syria, so as to avoid "misunderstandings" between their forces.
On September 30, the Russian air force launched a campaign of air strikes in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces were struggling against rebels.
In October Russia said a hotline had been set up with Israel to ensure there will be no clashes between their air forces.
Israel, which intends to keep its distance from the Syrian conflict, while defending its interests, has since 2013 regularly carried out strikes against the Syrian government, its Lebanese ally Hezbollah and Iranian targets.
Russian plane downed
On September 17, 2018, Syrian air defensed downed by error a Russian Ilyushin Il-20 military plane over the Mediterranean, killing all 15 crew members, as Israel carried out a raid on a Syrian army facility.
A day later, Netanyahu expressed to Putin his "sorrow" at the downing during a telephone call. Putin said it was the result of "tragic accidental circumstances."
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov briefs the media on the downing of Russia's Il-20 plane in Syria's Latakia Province, Moscow, September 24, 2018. /VCG Photo
On Sunday, Russia's military blamed "misleading" information from the Israeli air force for the incident.
The Israeli military rejected the accusation that its jets deliberately used the Il-20 as a shield and led to its downing.
Moscow said on Monday it plans to supply the Syrian army with a new S-300 air defense system and jam radars of nearby warplanes.
Putin told Netanyahu he blamed "the actions by the Israeli air force," and that Russia's actions were aimed at protecting its military.
Netanyahu warned Putin that equipping Syria with sophisticated missiles will "endanger" the Middle East, and said Israel will continue airstrikes in Syria against Iranian and Iranian-backed forces.
(Cover: Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a joint press conference in Moscow, June 7, 2016. /VCG Photo)