Benjamin Netanyahu promised Putin 'I'll be back soon' days after losing elections: Report

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised the Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would make a comeback after losing elections to the incumbent Naftali Bennett, having served for decades under the Israeli leadership. A source familiar to Netanyahu and a European diplomat told Axios' Barak Ravid on Tuesday, that just days after he was relieved from his Prime Ministerial duties, Netanyahu asked the Russian Ambassador to Israel Anatoly Viktorov to tell his Russian counterpart Putin that he “will be back soon.” 

His request to Viktorov followed a letter from Moscow’s leader that outlined the two leaders’ close ties and cooperation during Russia's military involvement in Syria in 2015. The report was published by Axios just a few days ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's first-ever meeting with Russian President Putin in Sochi, where the two discussed a range of bilateral, political, security, and economic issues including the Iranian threat. It was reported that the Israeli leader travelled to meet the Russian leader in the seaside resort city upon a personal invitation from the Russian president, marking a fresh era of diplomacy. Around that time, as Netanhayu’s leadership concluded, Putin thanked the former for “cooperation and mutual understanding for many years.”

Axios reported, when the Russian Ambassador to Israel Anatoly Viktorov delivered the letter, Netanyahu responded: “Tell President Putin I will be back soon.”

“I appreciate the great work you have invested in strengthening the ties between our nations in many areas,” Putin reportedly wrote in a letter, according to Axios report. “Your capabilities and experience will always be an asset to Israel,” the letter further stated. 

[Ex Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Putin. Image: Twitter/@IsraeliPM]

Putin kept Netanyahu from waging war in Syria  

Netanyahu, meanwhile, also responded to the message on Twitter as he expressed gratitude towards Russia’s Putin, whom he had earlier at a meeting called “my friend the President.” Netanyahu had also insisted that his warm relations with the Russian President had kept Israel from waging war in Syria. “Putin told me that were it not for our relationship, we could have found ourselves in the midst of a military clash. Only because we meet every few months has this been avoided,” Netanyahu had said in an interview with Army Radio in 2019, according to The Times of Israel. While Bennett has another meeting with the Russian President scheduled for Friday to hold bilateral talks related to security and economic issues, Kremlin issued a statement earlier saying that it intends not to compare Bennett with Netanyahu, acknowledging that the two leaders do not share the same rapport. 

“We try not to compare Mr. Netanyahu to the current Prime Minister because Netanyahu worked with President Putin for lots of years and they knew each other very well and it takes time to develop new personal relationships,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told i24News.

Image: AP