19:41, 29-Jan-2018
Netanyahu Visits Moscow: Overview on Russia-Israel relationship
[]
Share
Copied
President Putin in 2016 described Russia's relationship with Israel as special.
Both countries share a consensus against terrorism -- they signed a five-year military agreement in 2010. This is despite Russia having close allies in Syria which are actually supporters of Iran and Hezbollah -- the opposite of Israel.
Trade links also run deep between them. Russia purchased over 800-million US dollars worth of drones from Israel between 2010 and 2015. And in 2016, Russia became Israel's main oil supplier.
Over 100-thousand Israeli citizens live in Russia, and thousands of Russians moved to Israel after the Cold War.
Russian is the third most widely spoken first language in Israel. They have agreed on mutual visa-free travel since 2008.