Kremlin dismisses reports Moscow refused to receive Israel’s national security adviser

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not confirm the information from Israel’s newspaper Haaretz that Israel was going to send a delegation headed by Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat to Russia after the downing of the Il-20 plane over the Mediterranean Sea, but Moscow rejected this proposal.

"It is not so," he said, answering the question on whether Moscow received this request and rejected it. "In this case the newspaper gives the wrong information."

"There was a proposal from the Israeli prime minister all along to send a military delegation headed by the Air Force commander, and it was done so," Peskov said. He added that the Israeli military brought their information and received Russia’s detailed data.

Earlier on Wednesday, September 26, the Haaretz newspaper reported that Israel was going to send a delegation headed by Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat to Russia after the downing of the Il-20 plane over the Mediterranean Sea, but Moscow rejected this proposal. The newspaper states that the Russian side opted for contacts to be held between army professionals. As a result, a delegation of Israeli military headed by Israeli Air Force Commander Major General Amikam Norkin set off for Moscow on September 20. The newspaper said, citing several unnamed sources, that the issue of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s visit to the Russian capital was also discussed.

Haaretz reiterated that on September 25, before the departure to New York for the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu had reported that he had talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin twice over the phone following the downing of the Il-20 and agreed on a meeting of the military of the two countries on coordination on Syria. Still, no information on the possible date of this meeting has been released so far.