OREANDA-NEWS. June 02, 2009. Topical issues of bilateral cooperation, regional security including a Middle East settlement, and ways to overcome the global financial crisis were among the subjects discussed.

Beginning of Meeting with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman:

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Mr Deputy Prime Minister, let me welcome you to Moscow. This is your first visit here in a new capacity. Congratulations on your party's success in the elections. I hope that the traditionally friendly relations that bind our nations together will be strengthened and continue to develop on all fronts.

After all, a lot depends on us. Of course we can hardly be indifferent to how things stand in Israel, a state in which a very significant number of our former citizens are now living. And of course a very great deal depends on Israel as well, since it is such a key player in the Middle East.

I would like to discuss with you all the issues that you feel are relevant to the Russian-Israeli dialogue: both bilateral and regional security issues, including the Middle East settlement, and other subjects of concern for us today, including the financial crisis. That is, assuming that it is affecting Israel as well.

ISRAELI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN: Unfortunately it is affecting us too.

DMITRY MEDVEDEV: But some time ago your former Prime Minister told me: “The crisis hasn’t touched us yet.” That was maybe six months ago.

AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN: In point of fact, it hasn’t touched us in the literal sense, but it has had a serious indirect effect on the export sector of our economy. Most of our exports go to the United States and Europe. We have immediately felt the effects in those companies that depend on exports, where orders have fallen off sharply. Of course these are our most advanced companies, so unfortunately a chain reaction in the era of a so-called global village is inevitable.

DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Then we have similar sorts of problems because unfortunately the Russian economy is also very much export oriented, and our exports have fallen off, so we have common problems in this regard. We can talk about this.

AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN: Thank you very much for this opportunity to exchange views and to express our ideas.

From the very beginning we have seen Russia as one of our main partners in trying to reach a regional settlement and in dealing with the Palestinian issue. Indeed it is no secret that Israel has a very large Russian-speaking population, which – there’s no escaping the fact - came to Israel with its own cultural and historical baggage, its own mentality.

We will never forget that the Soviet Union was the first state to recognise Israel in 1948. Of course for us our common fight against Nazism during the Second World War is very important. In Israel there are thousands of Second World War veterans, including Heroes of the Soviet Union, who still remain in very close contact with their comrades-in-arms in Russia and around the world.

Of course in Israel part of the baggage that Russian citizens brought there is an important cultural agent. By the way this is true for more than just modern Israel: the founder and the first director of the Israeli National Theatre Habima was Yevgeny Vakhtangov. So there is much that binds us together. For these reasons of course some issues – cultural, military, political – will always be a priority for us, and we will try to resolve these issues in the most positive way possible.

The experience of recent years, including St Sergius Metochion [a pilgrimage site for the Russian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem], high level visits and cultural cooperation have of course contributed to improving relations both in the region and between our nations.